- The U.S. Air Force issued a solicitation for industry white papers to develop a prototype Aerospace Readiness Enterprise System to replace multiple legacy training and scheduling platforms.
- The ARES program plans to award up to four prototype agreements, with a potential single follow-on production award after evaluation.
The United States Air Force has launched a new solicitation seeking industry proposals for the Aerospace Readiness Enterprise System, or ARES, a next-generation software platform intended to modernize how aircrew scheduling, training, and evaluations are managed across the service.
According to a Dec. 11 request, the Department of the Air Force is asking companies to submit concepts for an ARES prototype under a competitive Other Transaction framework. The effort is managed by the Kessel Run Flight Operations Program Management Office within the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, operating under Air Force Materiel Command.
ARES is described as the Air Force’s future enterprise solution for scheduling, standardization and evaluation, and training management. The system is intended to replace several legacy programs currently in use, including Patriot Excalibur, Puckboard, and the Graduate Training Integration Management System. According to the solicitation, these older tools are fragmented and no longer suited to the scale and pace of current operations.
The Air Force said the first ARES use case will be developed as a prototype, reflecting an approach that emphasizes rapid testing and risk reduction before committing to full-scale production. As noted in the solicitation, prototyping is intended to validate assumptions about technology and system design before larger investments are made.
ARES is planned as a cloud-based, enterprise-level platform that will rely on commercial software to the greatest extent possible. The system is expected to deploy initially at Impact Level 4, with a defined path toward Impact Level 6, allowing it to handle more sensitive operational data over time. The Air Force said this aligns with broader goals under the Department of the Air Force Battle Network initiative.
The initial prototype requirements are based on the needs of Air Education and Training Command, though the solicitation notes that requirements from other major commands are not excluded. The system is expected to support a wide user base, including Mobility Air Forces, Combat Air Forces, Air Education and Training Command, and U.S. Space Force operations.
According to the request, the ARES prototype should unify scheduling, training, and evaluation data to better match aircrew and Guardians with missions, aircraft, and equipment. The Air Force said this integrated approach is intended to improve readiness, allocation, and decision-making for both training and operational missions.
The solicitation outlines a multi-step acquisition process. The Air Force expects to award up to four prototype Other Transaction Agreements, with each prototype required to be completed within 90 calendar days of contract award. Following prototype delivery, the government plans to conduct a challenge-based “bake-off” evaluation to compare solutions.
If a prototype meets the defined success criteria and funding is available, the Air Force intends to award a single follow-on production Other Transaction agreement without further competition, as permitted under federal law. Final production decisions would depend on technical performance, operational suitability, and government evaluation results.
The solicitation emphasizes that the ARES effort is unclassified at this stage, and no proprietary or controlled unclassified information should be included in submissions. However, later production phases would require compliance with more demanding cybersecurity and security standards.
ARES falls under national defense research and experimental development, with the Air Force highlighting agile development practices, DevSecOps principles, and rapid iteration as central to the program’s design philosophy.