The Army has selected ten vendors for a new 10-year contracting vehicle, worth up to $4.2 billion, to provide services and modernization of aerostat surveillance systems.
Advanced Technology Systems, Elevated Technologies
, Leidos [LDOS], Mission Solutions Group, QinetiQ, Raytheon [RTX], Skyship Services, TCOM, Thunderbolt Software and Tyonek Technical Services will each compete for task orders under the new deal.
“This award is instrumental for ongoing and future intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations that support the warfighter,” Lareina Adams, the Army’s project manager for terrestrial sensors, said in a statement on Thursday. “As demand signals continue to increase, aerostat systems will be key in delivering persistent capabilities worldwide.”
Task orders to be awarded under the new aerostat contracting vehicle will cover “hardware procurement and services, to include engineering, logistics, operation, and program management support,” the Army said.
A total of 10 bids were submitted for the work, according to the Pentagon’s March 13 contract announcement.
“This contract contains an option for on-ramping and off-ramping of vendors to address the Army’s emerging needs,” the Army said.
The new contract will go toward supporting the Army’s Persistent Surveillance System–Tethered (PSS-T) on its aerostat platforms.
“PSS-T is a highly persistent and flexible multi-sensor information collection platform that can be integrated with other aerial and unattended ground sensor systems to provide slew-to-cue capability,” the Army writes.
Vendors will also be tasked with providing services for the Army’s current Persistent Surveillance Dissemination System of Systems (PSDS2) architecture as well as supporting “future Elevated Sensing requirements,” according to the announcement.
“PSDS2 networks take existing video and data sensors into a common architecture to support persistent surveillance and rapid dissemination of actionable information for the warfighter,” the Army writes.