The Air Force seeks information from industry in an effort to modernize the communication systems on the RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial system (UAS), according to a notice posted on Federal Business Opportunities (FBO).

The Air Force is seeking potential candidates to replace end-of-life equipment and modernize the aircraft integration communications suite and the ground integrated communications suite hosted in Global Hawk aircraft and ground platforms. Based on the responses to this request for information (RFI), a request for proposals (RFP) is anticipated to be released in the second quarter of fiscal year 2017 for the program, formally known as the Global Hawk Communication System Modernization Program (CSMP).

The Global Hawk is one of the Pentagon highest profile unmanned system. Photo: Northrop Grumman.
The Global Hawk is one of the Pentagon highest profile unmanned system. Photo: Northrop Grumman.

CSMP is projected to be an ACAT II program, meaning it is estimated to require a total research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) expenditure of more than $185 million or procurement funding in excess of $835 million. CSMP scope includes procurement of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) and non-development items (NDI), along with the design, development and testing required to field a complete communications solution for both air and ground segments.

CSMP will require extensive hardware and software modifications on board the aircraft and ground segments. It will allow both the ground segment equipment and air vehicles to become more maintainable and interoperable by using open architecture (OA) standards. The Air Force envisions that OA will provide a more maintainable and supportable system, including sufficient technical data to enable plug and talk upgrades. When finished with development, a full complement of testing will be conducted to ensure the system performs as designed and is fully compliant with current mandates and interoperability and capability requirements.

The Air Force will not provide drawings or detailed technical data of Global Hawk for CSMP. The only data that is available, as of Aug. 1, is technical orders and operating manuals. Contractors must possess or obtain complete technical knowledge and understanding of the Global Hawk aircraft and ground integrated communications suites, how they integrate into the aircraft and ground platforms and the systems that the communications interoperate with to complete Global Hawk missions. One of the CSMP requirements is to satisfy unmet communications requirements in capabilities documents to include, but not limited to, protected communications, multi-day encryption and three voice network.

XTAR President and COO Philip Harlow said via a spokeswoman that the company is very interested in this process for modernizing Global Hawk communications. XTAR is a provider of X-band communications. X-band frequencies are reserved for government use while others like Ku- and Ka-band are not. Navy spokeswoman Jamie Cosgrove said the service been flight testing its Triton UAS with X-band since 2014.

The Global Hawk UAS is a high-altitude, long endurance aircraft with integrated sensor systems and ground segments that provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capability to warfighters. Northrop Grumman [NOC] is currently the prime contractor for the development, manufacture, modernization and sustainment of the system. The Air Force did not respond to a request for comment by press time Wednesday.