By Geoff Fein
The Navy intends to issue a new draft request for proposal (RFP) for the Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (STUAS)/Tier II system development and demonstration (SDD) phase.
STUAS will fill a critical gap identified by the Marine Corps for an organic tactical system to enhance situational awareness (Defense Daily, April 1).
The revised draft RFP will be released to allow industry to comment on the changes. The new RFP will include a Statement of Objectives (SOO) vice a Statement of Work (SOW) and a Performance-based Specification (P-Spec) vice a System Specification, according to the pre-solicitation posted at http://www.fbo.gov (N0001908R0057).
Additionally, the competition requirements will include both a written proposal and a flight demonstration period. The flight demonstration will be conducted on a government- provided range with participating vendors responsible for all other costs associated with participating in the flight demonstration (e.g. shipping/transportation, operations, maintenance/repair, lodging, storage, security, etc.). The flight demonstration will be conducted no earlier than March 1, 2009. Specific details regarding the flight demonstration (such as location, duration, scope, and required range safety certification) will be provided in the new draft RFP in addition to an updated competition time line, according to the notice.
The Navy/Marine Corps STUAS TIER II was reviewed by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC) on Sept. 18. The JROC approved the capabilities development document (Defense Daily, Oct. 20).
Currently, the Marine Corps has a service contract for the Boeing [BA]-Insitu ScanEagle UAS unmanned air vehicle (UAV). The Marine Corps is looking to own its own system, that it refers to as Tier II UAS, and have sailors and Marines operate it, according to the Navy (Defense Daily, April 1).
The Navy and Marine Corps have agreed that they will jointly pursue a system that will meet their respective STUAS and Tier II UAS requirements. The Marines want a long- endurance unmanned aircraft to perform surveillance and reconnaissance missions to support the division, regiment and battalion levels (Defense Daily, July 11).
One company looking to provide the services with a new system is Raytheon [RTN], which has an exclusive teaming agreement with Swift Engineering for this competition.
Other companies expected to submit bids once the RFP hits the street include Northrop Grumman [NOC], which was once teamed with Swift Engineering, and Boeing [BA].
A complete STUAS system will consist of multiple aircraft, a launch and recovery unit and a ground control station, sources said.