The Air Force recently awarded Boeing [BA] and Raytheon [RTN], competitors for the Family of Advanced Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals (FAB-T) program, contracts worth nearly $1.9 million for production work, according to a notice posted on Federal Business Opportunities.
According to a for official use only (FOUO) document posted Oct. 11 to the FBO notice, the Air Force will release two separate requests for proposals (RFP). The first RFP will be for production of the full FAB-T capability with both Advanced Wideband Terminals (AWT) and Command Post Terminals (CPT) while the second RFP will be for CPT-only production. Only one contract-path will be continued through a downselect for exercise of production options.
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| The Air Force’s N404, a Boeing 707 test aircraft, tests FAB-T terminals. Photo: Boeing. |
The decision on which contract to execute options for production will be made based upon the availability of AWT platform integration funding in the fiscal year 2015 Program Objective Memorandum (POM), the document said. If the FY ’15 POM does not provide required AWT integration funding, there will be no downselect for the AWT/CPT contract production options. The Air Force will instead issue a call for production proposal revisions and downselect the production contractor on the CPT-only contract. If the POM includes AWT integration funding, there will be no downselect for the CPT-only production options.
The CPTs will be installed in ground-fixed, ground-transportable and airborne (E-4 and E-6) configurations. The AWTs would be installed in force element platforms such as B-2, B-52, RC-135 aircraft and RC-135 ground locations. The Air Force estimates 84 CPTs and 132 AWTs plus additional terminals (to include six for aircraft trainers) for evolving warfighter requirements.
An industry source told Defense Daily last week these contracts were for what is called a manufacturing readiness assessment, in which the Air Force determines how the companies intend to build these terminals in their factories. The source said the next step in the program is for the Air Force to determine whether it has the funds to move forward with both the Command Post (CPT) and the Advanced Wideband (AWT) terminals or just the CPT.
FAB-T is to provide nuclear-survivable terminals capable of using multiple waveforms and communicating with both legacy Milstar and next-generation Advanced EHF (AEHF) satellites. The Oct. 11 document said the Air Force has a critical need date for delivery of a CPT with a Presidential and National Voice Conferencing (PNVC) capability by no later than fourth quarter FY ’15. The Air Force expects to make its source selection in January and wants initial operational capability (IOC) FY ’19.