SO/LIC Advanced Development

SO/LIC Advanced Development under the Office of the Secretary of Defense, aims to support the Department's initiatives to Deter Aggression, Defend the Homeland, and Build Sustainable and Long-Term Advantage. The program focuses on providing an unclassified, secure information platform called SUNet that enables communication, analysis, and information sharing between defense, interagency, and foreign partners. It supports a range of missions including research and analysis of publicly available information, Phase 0 shaping, informing and influencing; building partner capacity; and enables rapid development and fielding of artificial intelligence and machine learning. The program's objectives include providing defense and interagency partners with an accredited platform for secure unclassified information sharing, joint analysis, and advanced research and development in support of critical operational missions on a global scale.

The FY 2024 increase in funding for the SO/LIC Advanced Development program provides the Defense Department, international mission partners, and other Federal organizations with an accredited information technology platform that enables rapid innovation, combined operational missions, information sharing between partners, and advanced research and development. The program supports the testing and development of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) through SUNet. It also hosts Sky Blue to enable collaboration with multinational partners and coordinate the transfer of critical security assistance to Ukraine. Additionally, there are plans to establish a similar collaboration and command and control capability on SUNet for INDOPACOM. The program's goals include accelerating the deployment of AI/ML to warfighter systems, identifying and developing capabilities to combat terrorism and irregular adversaries, delivering these capabilities to DoD components and interagency partners, as well as providing support to US military operations.