The Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) program recently presented its Program of the Year Award to Product Manager Army Tactical Exploitation of National Capabilities (PdM TENCAP) in recognition of Polar Cascade – an effort that delivers cutting-edge counter Uncrewed Aircraft System (C-UAS) capabilities to the warfighter.
Polar Cascade project lead Timothy Roseberry credited his team for earning the award.
“The Army TENCAP team tirelessly worked to deliver capabilities to the warfighter within budget and on time,” said Roseberry. “The team regularly worked long hours, weekends, and even deployed to austere environments to ensure Soldiers received critical capabilities in support of forward operations.”
“The team’s dedication and technical expertise is truly unmatched and is a testament to their dedication to the warfighter,” he added.
Army TENCAP is an office within the newly created Project Manager Space Superiority and Exploitation (PM SSE). PM SSE delivers advanced space sensing and spectrum warfare systems that leverage national capabilities to support Army commanders.
Col. Carter Deekens, Project Manager for PM SSE, emphasized the significance of the award to his team.
“We are proud that APFIT recognized PdM TENCAP’s efforts and provided them with the support to deliver advanced C-UAS capabilities into the hands of our warfighters as fast as possible,” said Deekens.
APFIT is a government program started in 2022 to provide procurement funding for innovative projects that have completed development and are set to transition to operational use.
“APFIT has fundamentally reshaped how the Department of War [DoW] accelerates the transition of innovative technologies to the warfighter,” said Emil Michael, Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering, in a July 2026 DoW press release.
As part of the award, APFIT provided PdM TENCAP additional funding to assist in the delivery of its C-UAS technology to the warfighter.
Roseberry said the PM TENCAP technology met APFIT criteria of a fully developed, dynamic project ready for fielding. PM TENCAP and an Army Combatant Command (ACC) partnered to submit a proposal for funding through APFIT process.
“We had a small business we were working with and a mature capability able to be produced, as well as the production capacity for sustainment,” Roseberry said. “One thing that APFIT does not want to do is to provide funding to deliver end items for systems that have no ability to be sustained.”
Roseberry said his team worked closely with the contract vendor and Soldiers to identify a technology that identified a specific gap in their ability to combat adversaries. A description of this process played an important role in the APFIT proposal submission.
“We were able to mature that system's capabilities based on feedback and continuously working with Soldiers on the ground,” Roseberry said. “Over the course of time, we were able to get the system to the point where it was highly effective.”
PM TENCAP received its first tranche of funding for initial delivery of the system in 2025 and to date has provided the unit with 30 of the 49 systems. Roseberry attributes the additional funding from APFIT pivotal to rapidly and effectively delivering the capabilities through Polar Cascade.
“By diligently working with APFIT, we were able to have a product that has significantly increased the capability that's being delivered to the warfighter in use today,” Roseberry said.
| Date Taken: |
09.08.2026 |
| Date Posted: |
09.08.2026 15:39 |
| Story ID: |
574113 |
| Location: |
US |
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