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International Cooperation

Coalition Warfare Program (CWP)

Welcome

CWP Help

The CWP Team and the CWP POCs within the Service and Agencies, help turn ideas into competitive project nominations.

Contact Us for help before starting the nomination process.

Please see our CWP FAQs below for answers to many commonly asked questions about nomination development and project execution.

CWP Links

FY2026 Templates

Overview

The Coalition Warfare Program (CWP) leverages U.S. and foreign investments to conduct cooperative research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) projects with foreign partners. The CWP supports DoD’s goals:

  • Supporting current national and defense strategic guidance.
  • Supporting OUSD(R&E) technology area priorities.
  • Assisting program offices with adapting U.S. only projects to coalition solutions.
  • Influencing coalition interoperability in major programs that will have far-reaching use by U.S. Military Forces.
  • Addressing requirements of combined operations early in a program’s development cycle to avert risks to joint/coalition operations and avoid costs associated with adding requirements later in the acquisition process.
  • Enabling U.S. DoD access to leading-edge global technology.
  • Providing significant cost savings to the DoD while maintaining a strong foundation in research and development (R&D).

Through an annual, competitive process, CWP selects projects that increase coalition capabilities in support of operational, technological, or political objectives. CWP projects enable project teams to move a technology into the next stage of development or prepare for transition to operational forces.

What is Cooperative RDT&E?

Cooperative RDT&E is any project or program with U.S. and foreign government partners committed to accomplishing common objectives. In these projects:

  • Work can be done jointly and/or separately to achieve a common goal
  • Each government has equitable participation in the research and development elements of the project
  • Each government gains defense benefits from engaging in the project
  • Each government provides contributions to execute the effort to include:
    • Government Labor
    • Equipment
    • Facility Use
    • Industrial and Academic Participation
  • Tests and demonstrations prove out the overarching research and development efforts

Competition Cycle

CWP selects projects for funding through an annual competitive process. Only submissions sponsored by a Department of Defense organization will be considered. Refer to the FY 2027 CWP Management Plan for details (posted in CWP links).

Military Department/DoD Agency International Program Offices (IPO) will have differing degrees of staffing requirements and will have internal submission deadlines earlier than CWP. Contact your IPO to learn about organization-specific pre-submission deadlines:

Proposals

CWP proposals must include the following:

  • Have a U.S. DoD service laboratory-led Project Team committed to managing and executing the project (Project Teams can include combatant commands, other DoD and non-DoD organizations, academia, and industry)
  • DoD sponsor financial and non-financial contributions equal to CWP contribution
  • Have foreign government defense partner(s) equally committed to managing and executing the project
  • Written support for foreign partner(s) supporting project scope and funding
  • Both U.S. and foreign partners contribute to the research and development elements
  • Equitable funding between U.S. and each foreign partner
  • Show legitimate use for RDT&E funding
  • Clearly identify R&D activities that will be completed by each partner
  • Address warfighter challenge and documented DoD need
  • Advocacy by at least one Combatant Command
  • Establish the appropriate international agreements in time to execute project
  • Show reasonable plan for delivering tangible product
  • Identify transition path and show commitment to transition in writing

Responsive to DoD Needs

The CWP Team works with DoD experts to ensure projects meet Combatant Command and DoD needs. In most cases, technologies or outcomes developed under CWP projects are not region-specific, but rather benefit the DoD in multiple theaters.

CWP Funding Requirements

CWP will provide 1 to 3 years of RDT&E “seed” funding. Maximum project length is 3 years.

  • Maximum request is $2M. Requests for maximum funding must be clear “game changers”
  • CWP funds pay for U.S. activities and tasks only

CWP requires matching contributions from the U.S. Project Team and foreign partners. These contributions can be a mix of financial and in-kind resources dedicated to executing the project. Financial contributions show a projects team commitment to the technology/outcome and transition.

  • Other (non-CWP) U.S. contributions must be equal to or exceed the CWP request.
  • U.S. regulations require “equitable” contributions from each partner. In most cases, that means equal to the total U.S. contribution.