Air Force announces Industry Day for upcoming video data link solicitation

On August 2, the U.S. Air Force released an Industry Day notice for its upcoming Video Data Link Spectrum Relocation Handheld Development solicitation (Solicitation Number: FA8629-15-R-2474). The Draft RFP was released on July 27. RSVPs to the Industry Day are due by 4:00pm EST on August 5; comments on the Draft RFP are due by 5:00pm EST on August 8.

There will be an Industry Day for HH-VDL held on 10 August 2016 near Wright Patterson AFB, OH for interested parties. Please RSVP by 1600 EST on 5 August 2016. Additionally, please request a one-on-one meeting with the Government if desired. Requests for the above are to be submitted to the parties listed below.

The Dismounted VDL program was approved to enhance dismounted system capability and to address loss of spectrum, due to spectrum auction. Bandwidths 1695-1710 and 1755-1780MHz were auctioned in L-Band, and bandwidths 2025-2110MHz were expanded in the lower portion of S-Band.

VDL capability improves Intelligence, Surveillance, & Reconnaissance (ISR) essential to close air support, Command & Control (C2), air superiority, target identification, and situational awareness (SA). The Dismounted VDL system’s overall concept is to receive, transmit, and display secure and unsecure FMV and annotated images to and from C2 nodes (Dismounted, Mounted, Airborne) via a small, lightweight, ruggedized, and reliable receiver or transceiver. The system will be operator-carried for long durations on limited battery power in a full spectrum of environmental and combat conditions.

This system is required to possess Type 1 encryption capability through the use of NSA cryptocore modernization (CCM) and Government approved AES encryption. The Government desires this system to be depot-level repairable. The system must be interoperable with 466ER, Tactical, VNW, FM analog, DDL, STD-CDL and BE-CDL waveforms. The system must support UHF, L-Band, S-Band, C-Band, and KU-Band and support new S-Band frequencies of 2025 to 2110 MHz. The system must be water-resistant and ruggedized. The government anticipates allocating 10 to 15 million dollars to this effort or efforts.

The government is interested in evolutionary increases in capability, as well as reductions in Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP). This may culminate in multiple development efforts and contracts; both for an advanced capability device, as well as for a very low SWaP, receive-only device.

Full information is available here.

Source: FedBizOpps