Title: Cooled Staring Two-Color Manufacturing Technology Awarding Office

The Two-color ManTech (TMT) Program is designed to develop improved manufacturing processes for two-color cooled staring focal plane arrays (FPAs). These FPAs, specifically 640x480 pixels each responding simultaneously in the MWIR and LWIR spectral bands, meet the needs of a wide range of potential critical military applications. Critical applications of this FPA technology include long-range target identification and the advanced image processing algorithms used for rapid wide area search in Future Combat Systems for the Full Spectrum Army. Current technology is producing small quantities of single-color 640x480 FPAs (in either MWIR or LWIR) and 2-color smaller-format FPAs, but at relatively high costs. Because the primary roles of this highest-performance technology are military, no near-term commercial high-volume market will drive this product's development; the government's support is necessary to establish the manufacturing capability. In summary, the two-color IRFPA manufacturing technology developed on the TMT Program will prepare the Army and industry to transition FCS programs into Full-Scale Development and Low-Rate Initial Production phases.

The use of an other transaction agreement has contributed to a broadening of the industrial base by enabling Government to fund the development of manufacturing processes at one FPA vendor that will then be transferred to the other vendors within the IR community. The use of the other transaction has driven the manufacturer to put forth some of their intellectual property in support of the process development.

The products being developed under this other transaction are the next generation of FPAs that will be deployed in U.S. military systems. This program is enabling higher yield of the FPAs, and therefore greater availability at lower cost to the end user. This enhances the national security of the U.S. by enabling the advanced technology to enter the field faster than would be possible under the normal development cycle.

The technology transfer required under this agreement is another benefit to the DOD, as other IR vendors will be able to take advantage of enhancements developed under this other transaction.

The specific goals of the program include, but not limited to:

The use of the Other Transaction format allowed for the establishment of a production base that had been stagnated for use by DoD due to the lack of cost effective production techniques. This effort will invest in an emerging battery technology that has great potential for reducing the military’s battery and operating costs. It will be a direct replacement for the military unique technology currently in inventory. The negotiations that were conducted through the use of Other Transactions allowed the government to tailor each participant’s effort to maximize the results of the funds obligated to meeting DoD’s needs.

It allowed the Government extreme flexibility in choosing strong, successful contractors via commercial practices without the constraints of FAR regulations and fear of protest. This enabled the Government to concentrate on tailoring the agreement to the specific strengths and current level of progress that the contractor had made in the battery pouch technology arena.

The specific goals of the program include, but not limited to:

The use of the Other Transaction format allowed for the establishment of a production base that had been stagnated for use by DoD due to the lack of cost effective production techniques. This effort will invest in an emerging battery technology that has great potential for reducing the military’s battery and operating costs. It will be a direct replacement for the military unique technology currently in inventory. The negotiations that were conducted through the use of Other Transactions allowed the government to tailor each participant’s effort to maximize the results of the funds obligated to meeting DoD’s needs.

It allowed the Government extreme flexibility in choosing strong, successful contractors via commercial practices without the constraints of FAR regulations and fear of protest. This enabled the Government to concentrate on tailoring the agreement to the specific strengths and current level of progress that the contractor had made in the battery pouch technology arena.

BAE Systems, under the terms of agreement DAAH01-99-3-R003, evaluated a candidate prototype guidance sensor solution for the AFSS and Modernized Hellfire (MHF). The initial effort was to provide the basis for proceeding forward with further prototype hardware development and tests. The end result of that technical effort was a prototype dual mode seeker design concept, which was delivered in the Final Report. To arrive at a prototype design concept of the seeker, BAE Systems provided the Government with a technical report on its Brimstone missile seeker trials, as well as technical interaction and support. BAE Systems analyzed the performance capabilities of the Brimstone seeker to determine the suitability for the AFSS of a prototype dual mode millimeter wave (MMW)/semi-active laser (SAL) seeker based on Brimstone MMW and BAE Systems' SAL seeker.

The use of an other transaction agreement has offered the flexibility, through its inclusion of Company IR&D and ease of adding sole-source follow-on efforts, needed to encourage experimentation to optimize the performance of a novel tri-mode seeker. The seeker concept designed and evaluated under this effort would significantly improve the performance of the missile systems such as the Advanced Fire Support System (now renamed NetFires), Common Missile, and Modernized Hellfire by providing a novel guidance sensor capable of long-range fire-and-forget operation in adverse weather conditions. Lessons learned in this seeker development effort can be applied to programs, such as NetFires, Common Missile, and Modernized Hellfire, significantly enhancing the performance of those systems while reducing seeker development and evaluation lead time.

For this very low-dollar modification, the use of an Other Transaction has not fostered within the technology and industrial base new relationships that support national security, as it is with a traditional defense contractor.

The use of an other transaction has resulted in additional benefits, not addressed above. These benefits are notably the ease of adding scope and funding on a sole-source basis by providing equivalent, yet less complex, sole-source documentation. This procedure greatly aids in awarding follow-on efforts, such as that represented in this most recent modification to DAAH01-99-3-R003.

Northrop Grumman Corporation (NGC), under the terms of agreement DAAH01-99-3-R002, evaluated a candidate prototype guidance sensor solution for the AFSS and Modernized Hellfire (MHF). The initial effort was to provide the basis for proceeding forward with further prototype hardware development and tests. The end result of that technical effort was a prototype Tri-mode seeker design concept, which was delivered in the Final Report. This effort examined a baseline prototype tri-mode solution based on the combination of millimeter wave (MMW), Infrared (IR), and Laser Spot Tracking. Along with baseline concept definition of the prototype tri-mode sensor, specific design excursions were analyzed to determine the optimal prototype seeker design concept for the AFSS systems. The baseline concept for this prototype system was formed using the knowledge base generated by Northrop Grumman – an experience base encompassing Internal Research and Development (IR&D), the Longbow Hellfire missile program, and BAT P3I Seeker development programs.

Under this modification, NGC evaluated the performance of its Modernized Hellfire/Common Missile (MHF/CM) Tri-Mode seeker concept in a realistic war-fighting environment, and identified the effects as Probability of Hit varied with launch range. NGC also verified the requirements flowdown made in developing the seeker conceptual design.
Extent to which the cooperative agreement or other transaction has contributed to a broadening of the technology and industrial base available for meeting Department of Defense needs:

The use of an other transaction agreement has offered the flexibility, through its inclusion of Company IR&D and ease of adding sole-source follow-on efforts, needed to encourage experimentation to optimize the performance of a novel tri-mode seeker. The seeker concept designed and evaluated under this effort would significantly improve the performance of the missile systems such as the Advanced Fire Support System (now renamed NetFires), Common Missile, and Modernized Hellfire by providing a novel guidance sensor capable of long-range fire-and-forget operation in adverse weather conditions. Lessons learned in this seeker development effort can be applied to programs, such as NetFires, Common Missile, and Modernized Hellfire, significantly enhancing the performance of those systems while reducing seeker development and evaluation lead time.

For this very low-dollar modification, the use of an Other Transaction has not fostered within the technology and industrial base new relationships that support national security, as it is with a traditional defense contractor.

The use of an other transaction has resulted in additional benefits, not addressed above. These benefits are notably the ease of adding scope and funding on a sole-source basis by providing equivalent, yet less complex, sole-source documentation. This procedure greatly aids in awarding follow-on efforts, such as that represented in this most recent modification to DAAH01-99-3-R002.

This other transaction for prototypes results from the Commercial Operations and Support (O&S) Savings Initiative (COSSI), an undertaking of the Dual Use Applications (DUAP) Program Office, a joint program of the Department of Defense. Under this Agreement, which constitutes Stage I of the COSSI, EFW Inc. and the U.S. Army will jointly develop, test and integrate a prototype kit for the OH-58D, Kiowa Warrior (KW). The intent is to reduce the O&S costs of the KW by removing or replacing obsolete technology items or high maintenance components with commercially available systems that are mature enough to be easily adapted for KW use without the added cost of a development effort. While not the prime objective of the COSSI, the KW mission effectiveness is expected to improve through reduced maintenance downtime and decreased aircraft operation weight. EFW, parent company Elbit Systems Limited, along with its subcontractor, RACAL Avionics Inc., will provide 3 of the kit subsystems (replacement of weapons control boxes with a single Integrated Stores Management System (ISMS), incorporation of a digital map system into the ISMS, replacement of CRT displays with lightweight, flat-panel displays). The Government is responsible for providing the remaining 2 kit subsystems (replacement of the existing ALQ-144 IR jammer with an equivalent suppression system and replacement of existing Hellfire missile racks with lightweight composite racks). The Government is also responsible for integration of the entire kit on the KW aircraft. The proposed core systems are based on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components/systems or horizontal technology insertion from other military applications thus achieving O&S cost reductions.