Finch AI Selected to Deliver Critical Supply Chain Risk Insights to the U.S. Air Force

STTR Phase I Contract Focuses on 
Detecting Foreign Influence within the U.S. Industrial Base

HERNDON, Va., Sept. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Finch AI announces it has been selected by AFWERX for a STTR Phase I contract focused on delivering an AI-enabled capability to detect foreign influence and surface hidden relationships within the intellectual property supply chain of the U.S industrial base and research institutions, enabling teams to address the most pressing challenges in the Department of the Air Force (DAF). The Air Force Research Laboratory and AFWERX have partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) process by accelerating the small business experience through faster proposal to award timelines, changing the pool of potential applicants by expanding opportunities to small business and eliminating bureaucratic overhead by continually implementing process improvement changes in contract execution. The DAF began offering the Open Topic SBIR/STTR program in 2018 which expanded the range of innovations the DAF funded and on June 30, 2026, Finch AI started its journey to create and provide innovative capabilities that will strengthen the national defense of the United States of America.

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"Finch AI combines a powerful platform, domain expertise and flexibility to empower customers to decisively and confidently identify risk and take decisive action. We are thrilled to have been selected for this work and to have the opportunity to do precisely that for the U.S. Air Force," said Finch AI CEO Steve Baldwin.

About Finch AI

Finch AI helps customers understand risk – risk from nefarious influences within research institutions; risk from relationships that may prove problematic; risk from missed threats or signals buried in data volumes too massive for a single analyst or analyst team to manually review By combining innovative AI capabilities and domain expertise, Finch turns enterprise-scale volumes of raw text into accurate, trusted, real-time insights that help customers identify risk and take action. The company was founded by former LexisNexis leaders, and its products were first sold into the DoW more than 15 years ago. It holds multiple patents around its differentiated approach to understanding language and leveraging AI to uncover risk. For more information, visit www.finchai.com.

About AFRL

The Air Force Research Laboratory is the Department of the Air Force's primary scientific research and development center and one of six centers within Air Force Materiel Command. AFRL leads the discovery, development and delivery of technologies for air, space and the multidomain. With a workforce spanning seven mission areas at more than 40 locations worldwide, AFRL conducts research ranging from basic science to advanced technology development. For more information, visit afresearchlab.com. 

About AFWERX
AFWERX, the innovation arm of the Department of the Air Force and a division within the Air Force Research Laboratory, partners with small businesses, startups and nontraditional vendors to address challenges facing Airmen and Guardians. Headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, AFWERX strengthens the defense industrial base by expanding access to innovators, building partnerships and accelerating the transition of critical technologies to operational capability. In fiscal year 2025, AFWERX awarded more than 1,000 contracts totaling $1.37 billion and achieved 438 Phase III transitions valued at $8.1 billion. For more information, visit afwerx.com.

Company Press Contact:
Caryn Alagno
Marketing
[email protected] 

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Air Force, the Department of War, or the U.S. government.

SOURCE Finch AI