Saturday, August 29, 2020

Air Force begins 'rapid research' to combat commercial drones used by adversaries

The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Information Directorate, in Rome, N.Y., has a requirement to provide a focused yet flexible, rapid, agile contracting vehicle between the AFRL, its products centers, and the operational community to support rapid research, development, prototyping, demonstration, evaluation, and transition of Counter small Unmanned Aircraft System (C-sUAS) capabilities.

“These capabilities are to be used in combating Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) small Unmanned Aircraft Systems—and others leveraging COTS technology—presently being used by our adversaries in asymmetric warfare against U.S. military personnel and materiel,” the Air Force said in contract documents released in December. “Emphasis will be placed on: a) development of technology capability solutions that address specific user requirements; b) delivery of prototype technologies for evaluation and feedback in the context of the user’s operational environment; c) provision of a mechanism for user acquisition of limited product quantities required for operational introduction of technologies. Anticipated deliverables include software, hardware, technical documentation and technical reports.”

The government anticipates a single award Indefinite-Delivery, Indefinite-Quantity research and development contract with Cost-Plus-Fixed-Fee Completion Task Orders, an ordering period of 72 months, and a maximum ordering amount of approximately $490 million.

“In order to meet the users’ critical schedule to combat the UAS threat, and due to the required synchronicity and top level systems engineering between both the new capabilities to be developed and changes to fielded software baseline, this IDIQ is intended to be a single award,” the Air Force said in response to questions from contractors interested in bidding on the contract. The government anticipates a contract award in September.

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