Strider Technologies, Inc. (“Strider”), the leading provider of strategic intelligence, today announced it has secured a contract worth up to $85 million from the Department of the Air Force. The contract builds on Strider’s long-standing work with the Air Force’s Office of Commercial and Economic Analysis (OCEA) and formalizes a five-year collaboration focused on protecting American defense innovation from adversarial nation-state risk.
Under the contract, Strider’s strategic intelligence will continue to support OCEA’s screening of applicants to the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. These programs channel federal research and development funding to small U.S. businesses developing technologies with defense and commercial potential. That same access to funding, research, and the defense innovation base makes these programs an attractive target for adversarial nation-states that seek to acquire sensitive technology, intellectual property, and talent through undisclosed foreign ties, ownership, and financing.
Strider’s strategic intelligence, rooted in open-source data and transformed using advanced AI and proprietary risk methodology, enables OCEA to identify foreign ownership, control, and influence risks across applicants, their key personnel, and their networks before awards are made. This allows the Air Force to move innovation forward quickly while safeguarding taxpayer investment and the integrity of the defense industrial base.
Beyond SBIR and STTR screening, the contract is also designed to grow alongside evolving mission needs, giving the Air Force a ready foundation to extend Strider’s strategic intelligence to additional mission areas.
“The PRC and other nation-states are targeting the startups and researchers building the technologies that will define future military advantage,” said Greg Levesque, CEO and Co-Founder of Strider. “This contract reflects years of trusted partnership with OCEA and gives the Department of War a scalable way to protect that innovation at speed. Small businesses are the engine of American defense innovation. We are proud to help ensure that federal investment strengthens U.S. capability, not our competitors’.”
“Programs like SBIR and STTR are only as strong as the trust behind every award,” said Rob Turner, Vice President of Government at Strider. “Adversarial nation-states are working at an unprecedented scale to embed themselves in the defense innovation base through hidden ownership, financing, and personnel ties. Strider gives decision-makers clear, actionable intelligence to spot those risks early and act with confidence.”
