AFRL seeks proposals for agile manufacturing for ISR program

On January 27, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) issued the following solicitation (Solicitation Number: BAA-RQKM-2015-0011) for technical and cost proposals on the following research effort: Agile Manufacturing for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR).  Interested vendors should note that proposals are due no later than 2:00pm EDT on February 24.

The overall objective of the Agile Manufacturing for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Program is to research, develop, design and build a multi-intelligence, reconfigurable demonstration pod highlighting benefits of agile manufacturing and open systems architecture techniques to make podded ISR capability more affordable and operationally flexible. The prototype pod capability will be demonstrated on a C-130 aircraft and will connect to palletized processing, evaluation and dissemination (PED) equipment on board the aircraft.

Affordability and operational flexibility of next generation ISR systems is critical to successful fielding of warfighting ISR capability.  Consistent with these goals agile manufacturing techniques will be used to build the demonstration pod reducing manufacturing risk and costs and enhancing capability through more rapid technical refresh.  The intent of this program is to demonstrate a multi-Intelligence (INT) podded ISR system that is both flexible (reconfigurable) and affordable, even at low volume.

This ISR demonstration pod will have a cost objective of $300,000 (does not include sensors) and will accommodate 2 turret-mounted sensors and 1 gimbal-mounted sensor (sensors of interest include full motion video (FMV), wide area motion imagery (WAMI), synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and ground moving target indicator (GMTI)).  This will be achieved through the integration of agile manufacturing techniques (such as digital design, virtual manufacturing) and incorporation of open systems architecture coupled with innovative manufacturing and supply base technologies.  The ability to reconfigure the pod within 3 hours to accommodate changing mission requirements will be key in demonstrating operational flexibility.  This effort will demonstrate a prototype reconfigurable, Multi-Intelligence ISR pod, built with open system architecture and demonstrating Agile Manufacturing concepts.  The ISR demonstration pod research effort is a 15 month technical effort followed by 3 months for reporting with the sample pod delivered within 12 months after receipt of order.

Full information is available here.

Source: FedBizOpps