The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) issued a solicitation Monday for an open-architecture software platform to give airlift and tanker aircrews a real-time common operating picture, a requirement driven in part by the loss of seven U.S. aircraft over six weeks of operations against Iran.
Our Open Mission Engine (OMEN) solicitation is now live.
Aircrew operating in contested environments lack an integrated, in-flight common operating picture (COP) that combines threat awareness, tactical datalink fusion, and blue-force integration. In response to these… pic.twitter.com/DVsZ2wacQd
— Defense Innovation Unit (@DIU_x) April 6, 2026
The program, called the Open Mission Engine (OMEN), will fuse blue-force positions, threat data, airspace status, and mission updates into a single aircrew display.
The specification that sets it apart from commercial navigation tools: the system must operate in degraded, disrupted, intermittent, or limited (DDIL) communication environments and function without GPS or active datalinks.
“This problem is especially relevant for large, high-value airlift and tanker aircraft that utilize avionics and mission systems that are optimized for more permissive operations,” DIU said in the solicitation.
“This requires crews to rely heavily on pre-mission planning products, voice updates, and aging platform-specific displays.”
Seven U.S. aircraft were lost during Operation Epic Fury. Three F-15E Strike Eagles were destroyed by Kuwaiti friendly fire in the opening days of the conflict.
Two KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft collided in mid-air, a mishap attributed to a transponder failure.
Two MC-130J Commando II special operations transports, among the high-value mobility platforms OMEN targets, were destroyed on an improvised desert airstrip near Isfahan, roughly 200 miles inside Iran, after bogging down in wet sand during the April 3 rescue of a downed F-15E crew.
“It was sandy, wet sand, so we thought there may a problem taking off because of the weight of the plane,” President Donald Trump said at an April 6 White House briefing with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine.
“And then we also had all the men jumping back onto the planes, and they got pretty well bogged down.”
OMEN’s first planned application is a “Tactical Moving Map” pulling from the Department of the Air Force’s Battle Network, the Space Force’s Unified Data Library, and Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) data.
DIU says the map “will serve as a baseline for future capabilities.”
Vendors must include an open software development kit giving the U.S. government direct control over the codebase.
Foreign firms may submit proposals if they have no financial ties to sanctioned countries.
Prototype bids are due April 15.
