The reason why the Air Force decided to cancel an entire aircraft recapitalization program for a new effort to connect new existing sensors and shooters across the U.S. military is becoming clear, as the first round of industry contracts related to the Advanced Battle Management System include new contracts, with some worth up to $950 million.

The service announced May 29 that it was awarding 28 companies indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contracts with award ceilings of up to $950 million for Joint All-Domain Command-and Control (JADC2). The minimum award for each vendor is $1,000. The awardees are a mix of major defense and technology contractors – including Boeing [BA], BAE Systems, Dell Technologies Inc. [DLL], Lockheed Martin [LMT], and Northrop Grumman [NOC] – and smaller companies.

The Air Force’s ABMS spending is limited by the funding appropriated in the President’s budget, regardless of the cumulative ceiling of a contract, a service spokesperson said Wednesday. The service’s fiscal year 2021 presidential budget request includes $3.3 billion over the five-year Future Years Defense Plan (FYDP).

“We are not obligated to issue additional funding past the initial $1,000 per company,” the spokesperson said. “This contract mechanism allows for maximum flexibility and a fair opportunity for open competition.”

The full list of awardees includes: Alion Science and Technology; Apogee Research; World Wide Technology; BAE Systems; Boeing Defense Systems; Borsetta; CACI International [CACI]; Chooch Intelligence Technologies; Collins Aerospace Co. [RTX]; Dell Technologies; Fregata Systems; General Dynamics [GD]; Hellebore Consulting Group; Honeywell Aerospace [HON]; Immersive Wisdom; L3 Harris Technologies [LHX]; Lockheed Martin; Northrop Grumman; Palantir; Parsons Government Services [PSN]; Persistent Systems; Raytheon [RTX]; Securboration; Silvus Technologies; Simple Sense; Solid State Scientific; Viasat; and Wind Talker Innovations.

The U.S. military has dubbed JADC2 as an effort to build a cross-service digital architecture for multi-domain operations. The Air Force’s main contribution will be ABMS, which the service describes as the air and space “military Internet of Things.”

In a June 2 email to Defense Daily, the Air Force’s ABMS architect Preston Dunlap said the IDIQ contract is divided into each of the major ABMS product categories of digital architecture, engineering and concepts; sensor integration; all-domain data; all-domain secure processing; all-domain connectivity; all-domain applications; and effects integration. The minimum award for each vendor is $1,000.

“This award is for the initial onboarding to the IDIQ to set up the first stage of the contract lattice necessary to support the agile acquisition approach,” Dunlap said. “Further rounds of onboarding will occur followed by specific fair opportunity competitions for tasks.”

The primary objective of these contracts is to enable “more rapid competition for [ABMS] tasks,” he added. In turn, that will help the Air Force keep up with new technology developments and resources as it continues its regular demonstration “sprints” that began in December 2019. The awards follow the ABMS office’s first broad agency announcement release in February 2020. A second IDIQ onboarding is expected “in the coming months,” and the next round of submissions will close in August, Dunlap said.

The locations of performance are to be determined at the contract direct order level and are expected to be completed by May 28, 2025, per the May 29 contract notice. Twenty-eight offers were received.  Fiscal 2020 research, development, test and evaluation funds will be used on this contract but no funds were obligated at the time of award.

The Air Force canceled the planned Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) recapitalization program in 2018 to use the funding instead to develop the ABMS program.

The following is a breakdown of how each contractor’s solutions will fit into the ABMS product categories, provided by the Air Force:

Category 0 – Digital architecture, standards, analysis and concepts

  • Alion Science and Technology
  • Apogee Research
  • BAE Systems
  • Boeing Defense Systems
  • CACI
  • Collins Aerospace Company
  • General Dynamics
  • Hellebore Consulting Group
  • L3 Harris
  • Lockheed Martin
  • Northrop Grumman
  • Palantir
  • Raytheon
  • Securboration
  • Wind Talker Innovations

Category 1 – Sensor Integration

  • Alion Science and Technology
  • Apogee Research
  • World Wide Technology
  • BAE Systems
  • Boeing Defense Systems
  • Borsetta
  • Collins Aerospace Company
  • L3 Harris
  • Lockheed Martin
  • Northrop Grumman
  • Raytheon
  • Solid State Scientific Corporation
  • Viasat
  • Wind Talker Innovations

Category 2 – Data

  • Alion Science and Technology
  • BAE Systems
  • Boeing Defense Systems
  • CACI
  • Chooch Intelligence Technologies
  • Dell Technologies
  • Fregata Systems
  • General Dynamics
  • L3 Harris
  • Lockheed Martin
  • Northrop Grumman
  • Palantir
  • Persistent Systems
  • Raytheon
  • Solid State Scientific Corporation
  • Viasat
  • Wind Talker Innovations

Category 3 – Secure Processing

  • Alion Science and Technology
  • BAE Systems
  • Boeing Defense Systems
  • Borsetta
  • CACI
  • Collins Aerospace Company
  • Dell Technologies
  • Fregata Systems
  • General Dynamics
  • L3 Harris
  • Lockheed Martin
  • Northrop Grumman
  • Parsons Government Services
  • Raytheon
  • Securboration
  • Viasat
  • Wind Talker Innovations

Category 4 – Connectivity

  • Alion Science and Technology
  • BAE Systems
  • Boeing Defense Systems
  • CACI
  • Collins Aerospace Company
  • Dell Technologies
  • Fregata Systems
  • General Dynamics
  • Honeywell Aerospace
  • L3 Harris
  • Lockheed Martin
  • Northrop Grumman
  • Persistent Systems
  • Raytheon
  • Silvus Technologies
  • Viasat
  • Wind Talker Innovations

Category 5 – Applications

  • Alion Science and Technology
  • Apogee Research
  • BAE Systems
  • Boeing Defense Systems
  • CACI
  • Collins Aerospace Company
  • Dell Technologies
  • General Dynamics
  • Immersive Wisdom
  • L3 Harris
  • Lockheed Martin
  • Northrop Grumman
  • Palantir
  • Parsons Government Services
  • Raytheon
  • Securboration
  • Simple Sense
  • Viasat
  • Wind Talker Innovations

Category 6 – Effects Integration

  • Alion Science and Technology
  • BAE Systems
  • Boeing Defense Systems
  • Collins Aerospace Company
  • Fregata Systems
  • General Dynamics
  • Honeywell Aerospace
  • L3 Harris
  • Lockheed Martin
  • Northrop Grumman
  • Raytheon
  • Wind Talker Innovations

Clarification: This article has been updated to clarify that ABMS funding under these contracts is limited to what is appropriated in the Air Force’s fiscal year budget.