The Navy has released a revised request for proposals (RFP) for the next contract for the Aegis Combat System designed to align it with the service’s requirements and budget expectations, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) said last week.
The updated version modifies the Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) aspect of the RFP asking potential bidders to identify potential problems they could encounter with the AMDR Integration Engineering Load and how they would be solved. It also removes AMDR as a priced completion, NAVSEA said. The move will reduce the cost of Advanced Capability Build (ACB) 16 development and maintain current schedules, the command said.
“The Navy originally planned to develop an AMDR Integration Engineering Load that was to only be used to support the Milestone C testing of the AMDR Radar System,” NAVSEA said Friday. “The Navy has since provided a more robust and cost effective system engineering solution that will allow the AMDR System to be tested using a simulated Aegis Combat System.”
“The Navy is still fully committed to integrating the AMDR into the Tactical Aegis Combat System as part of a future Advanced Capability Build (ACB). ACB 16 was not planned to host AMDR, which will be on the ACB configuration for the FY2016 Flight III DDG 51,” NAVSEA said.
The Navy said earlier this month that it was modifying the RFP and extending the submission deadline from November 3 to December 15 (Defense Daily, Oct. 13). The initial RFP was released last summer.
NAVSEA said it was expecting “multiple” companies to bid.
Lockheed Martin [LMT] and Raytheon [RTN] have previously announced their intentions to bid for the lucrative contract, and Boeing [BA] recently said it’s interest in competing is “significant,” and would announce its final decision at a later date (Defense Daily, Oct. 3).
Lockheed Martin is the incumbent contractor and inherited Aegis by acquiring Martin Marietta in 1995. It has been the sole contractor ever since, but the Navy is reopening the contract to a competitive process. A Boeing bid would add a twist to the competition, as Raytheon was believed to be the only firm seriously considering a challenge to Lockheed Martin.
The Navy has continuously looked to upgrade the Aegis system on its fleet of Arleigh Burke-class (DDG-51) destroyers and Ticonderoga-class (CG-47) cruisers, the two families that use the advanced command and control system that harnesses radar tracking to guide weapons to targets.
Lockheed Martin also builds Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense, the cornerstone of the Navy’s sea-based BMD program, under a separate contract with the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency.