Army seeks sources for ISR aircraft autopilot system upgrade

On May 11, the Army Contracting Command posted a sources sought notice to identify/develop a suitable substitute replacement for the Autopilot Flight Control System or the SPZ-4500 Autopilot System on the RC-12X fleet (Solicitation Number: W58RGZ-15-R-RC12XAUTOPILOTSYSTEM).  Responses are due no later than 4:00pm on July 15

The primary objective is to provide a replacement system that reduces or eliminates the obsolescence issues with the current AFCS. The secondary objective is to determine if there are suitable substitute replacement AFCS and or autopilot systems readily available that are suitable for replacement of the current system that could be certified for use on the RC-12X aircraft. Many of the components of the AFCS/Autopilot system have become obsolete and difficult to repair including, but not limited to: AZ-800 Air Data Computer, SZ-400 Stability Augmentation Computer and FZ-450 Digital Flight Control Computer. See below for a description of the AFCS/Autopilot system as provided in the aircraft specification.

The RC-12X Guardrail Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Aircraft is designed to support SIGINT missions in theatres of action out to the 2025 timeframe. The RC-12X aircraft were derived from RC-12N, RC-12P, and RC-12Q aircraft specified in the A24E Type Certificate as A200CT aircraft. The base RC-12N, RC-12P, and RC-12Q aircraft were modified with a Universal Avionics Dual FMS glass cockpit in the 2007 timeframe as part of the upgrade to become RC-12X aircraft. The aircraft retains the original Autopilot Flight Control System (AFCS) described below. Honeywell developed the AFCS used in the RC-12 (FE-series) aircraft. The autopilot portion of the AFCS meets the requirements of TSO-C9c and is described below. Honeywell used to support the repair and recertification of most of these components, but in many cases no longer supports.

Full information is available here.

Source: FedBizOpps