Science Applications International Corp. [SAIC] this week said it won a new $90 million contract with the Air Force to continue to provide U.S. military forces with support for counter-small unmanned aircraft systems (C-sUAS) and also expand its work in this area to work directly with suppliers of counter-drone systems to rapidly meet the needs of these forces.
The contract has a one-year base period and three one-year options and was awarded by the Air Force Live Cycle and Management Center, Force Protection Division.
SAIC said it will provide integrated logistics support and sustainment services to include repairing and maintaining C-sUAS systems, equipment and software, help desk support, maintenance, training, supply chain management, and modernization efforts to keep systems ready for use.
There are about 37 sites worldwide, including 15 domestic installations, where SAIC provides C-sUAS support. Some of the sites include Central Command, European Command, Indo-Pacific Command, Strategic Command, and the U.S. Space Force.
SAIC also has a role to play for the U.S. military by providing its Medusa command and control platform for counter-drone operations, integrating different systems used in the detection, tracking, identification and defeat of drones that pose a threat to forces and bases.
“We’re really the lead integrator…from a software and hardware standpoint for Medusa and what this gives the opportunity for the Air Force to do is have us be now the contractor that gets the best-of-breed OEMs together under this contract vehicle,” Jim McCoy vice president of programs for SAIC, told Defense Daily on June 30. “Some aspect of this in the past had been done directly by the Air Force out to some of the key partners that formed the Medusa. Interceptors, cyber effects, RF effects and so this contract really allows [SAIC] to work with those suppliers to really have the Air Force focus strategically on requirements analysis, the future of counter-UAS, where the hotspots are for them.”
For most locations outside of the U.S., SAIC will have a physical presence with technical resources and field support personnel to keep C-sUAS operating and be able to “fix-on-the-fly,” McCoy said. Previously, the customer oversaw the field service personnel, he said.
SAIC has been providing C-sUAS support to the military services for more than nine years.
McCoy said SAIC is going to look to leverage its military counter-drone work for use elsewhere in the federal civilian government such as the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Aviation Administration to protect critical infrastructures. SAIC brings its command and control platform that can tie in various systems from different suppliers and give operators a “single pane of glass” to manage operations, he said.
The new Air Force contract will allow SAIC to “continue to evolve Medusa into more commercial offerings at a very good entry level price point,” McCoy said.