The Air Force seeks information from industry as it formulates contract approaches for combining a potential Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) Military Ka-band/Commercial Ka-band airborne SATCOM terminal system, according to a notice posted on Federal Business Opportunities.
The service also requests industry recommendations for business case formulation associated with transitioning from existing Ku-band Aero Mobile Satellite Services (AMSS) systems to alternative Ka-band AMSS systems to include maximum utilization of WGS. The approach must also include an interoperability roadmap between WGS and their respective commercial satellite system.
The Air Force is considering requiring offerors to submit an airworthy prototype terminal system (modem, antenna and ancillary components) for an open architecture solution. This solution would be delivered, and tested, in a standardized ground-based government test environment at a single laboratory location that has yet to be determined.
If a complete prototype system is not available, offerors can submit functional terminal elements (modem at a minimum) to be integrated with an Air Force prototype low-profile airborne antenna developed by the Advanced Multi-Band Communications Antenna System (AMCAS) program.
An industry day has been scheduled for Oct. 25 in El Segundo, Calif. Final responses to this RFI are due Nov. 22.
View the RFI here: http://1.usa.gov/OYKGBA