The Air Force wants information from industry for a system to passively extract and convert weather data from AN/TPS-75 radar into weather radar imagery, according to an April 30 Request for Information (RFI) posted on the Federal Business Opportunities Web site.
The system also must not interfere with the AN/TPS-75’s primary function, which is detecting and tracking enemy ballistic missiles, and must automatically detect radar settings such that operators don’t have to continually adjust the system to perform this function, according to the RFI. The Air Force is looking to replace the AN/TPS-75 in 2019 with a new Three Dimensional Expeditionary Long-Range Radar (3DELRR) (Defense Daily, Sept. 29).
Weather radar coverage in combatant commander Areas of Responsibility is often limited to a small number of host-nation and joint tactical weather radar systems, according to an April 12 Statement of Work, also posted on Federal Business Opportunities. Extraction of weather information from surveillance radars will expand weather radar coverage into denied areas and (will) fill gaps in the existing weather radar network, according to the Statement of Work. Deployment of a AN/TPS-75 weather extraction capability will improve weather radar coverage and support to combat operations, according to the Statement of Work.
Responses are due no later than May 14, according to the RFI, which can be found at http://bit.ly/ICP1nP.