By Geoff Fein
The Navy has issued a request for information (RFI) for an aircraft carrier based aircraft system providing persistent Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) and strike capabilities that will enhance the versatility provided by an aircraft carrier, according to the service.
The Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (DCNO) for Information Dominance (N2/N6) has identified this need, and over the next 10 years, Navy investment will focus on defining requirements and beginning development of an unmanned capability to achieve this enhanced versatility, according to the solicitation.
According to the RFI posted at http://www.fbo.gov (N00019-UCLASS-RFI-A), “the Navy is interested in information on carrier-based, low observable (LO) Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) concepts optimized for Irregular and Hybrid Warfare scenarios, capable of integrating with manned platforms as part of the Carrier Air Wing (CVW) by the end of 2018 to support limited operations in contested scenarios.”
“The UAS should enhance situational awareness and shorten the time it takes to find, fix, track, target, engage, and assess time sensitive targets. This RFI is intended to determine the existence of sources that can provide a limited inventory of systems capable of being operated by fleet Sailors and performing the above mentioned Navy UAS mission,” according to the RFI.
Parties interested in responding to the RFI must submit a statement of interest no longer than five pages to the Navy by 5 p.m. March 26, according to the solicitation.
Responses to the RFI are due no later than May 3, 2010.
According to the solicitation, the goal is to achieve limited fleet operational use in 2018. The notional system is four to six air vehicles, carrier mission control interfaces and ashore mission control interfaces, sensor payloads, weapon interfaces, and personnel. The systems should also be common and compatible with joint forces and infrastructures, according to the RFI.
The air vehicle should be able to autonomously launch/recover and be able to receive fuel from Navy and Air Force style airborne tankers. The air vehicle should also carry/employ weapons payloads sufficient to complete mission tasking in vetted scenarios as well as carry a suite of modular and/or federated ISR sensors with all weather capability, according to the RFI.
The systems should have an unrefueled mission endurance of at least 11 to 14 hours, a design life of at least 9,000 hours, and be able to operate in weather encountered 90 percent of the time over an average year for each specific vetted scenario geographic area, according to the solicitation.
The unmanned vehicle will employ open, robust, secure and scalable software, hardware, and networking architectures, and should be able to interface and interoperate with CVN and shore-based infrastructures, the RFI added.
The UAS should also be able to be interoperable with other aircraft.
The capabilities described in the RFI are intentionally broad to ensure a comprehensive market survey, the Navy said.
Responses to the RFI shall encompass end-to-end UAS solutions and describe the capability available from each proposed alternative identified for the mission areas and constraints defined in the RFI.
Respondents are requested to provide a top level overview of the complete system capabilities including, but not limited to: physical attributes, theory of operation and employment, hardware and software key elements, technical performance parameters, operational capabilities, approaches to autonomy, CVN and CVW integration, tolerance of shipboard electromagnetic environment, joint warfighting integration, and any limitations. For all system segments and communications/data links, describe ability of interfaces to scale, use open protocols, provide robust performance from permissive to contested environments, support timely/low latency performance, and multiple levels of security, according to the solicitation.
Additionally, respondents are to provide a general description of the aircraft segment including propulsion system, weapons integration capability, sensor payload, mission avionics, survivability, performance characteristics, and landing gear configurations. Provide reference design mission(s) and constraints. Provide communication/data link capabilities for Line of Sight (LOS), LOS relay, and Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS).
Companies are expected to provide an estimated schedule for system development, testing and deployability assessment to enable deployment of capabilities by the fourth quarter of FY ’18, according to the RFI.
And companies should anticipate deployability assessment complete not later than Dec. 31, 2017, as well as identify block/spiral development plans, the RFI said.
For the sensor payload, the Navy is requesting companies identify actual system, type, and model of off-the-shelf/non-developmental sensors including weight, volume, power and cooling requirements; describe sensor package modes, collection rates, resolution levels, field(s) of regard, search rate(s), accuracy level(s); describe installed sensor performance (including collection rate and detection range) in sea search, littoral search and land search; discuss the capability to carry signals intelligence, imagery intelligence, and measurement and signature intelligence, as well as sensor payload growth capacity, according to the RFI.
Additionally, companies should provide information on weapons carried, including weight, volume, and power and cooling requirements; internal/external weapons carriage capabilities; number and type of weapons comprising payload package(s); and weapons payload growth capacity, the RFI said.
Responses to the RFI should also include information on the propulsion and power system including integrated propulsion system description (such as, inlet, exhaust, range, survivability, etc.); engine(s) model and version; engine specifications (dimensions, thrust, weight, specific fuel consumption, etc.); typical fuel flow values for takeoff/carrier launch, climb, cruise, loiter, and idle, according to the solicitation.