Meteorological Data Sources RFI 6-27-2024.pdf

U.S. AIR FORCE AEROSPACE MISSION PLANNING DIVISION

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON

Meteorological Data Sources for Planning and Executing U.S. Department of Defense Precision Airdrop Operations

Table of Contents

1.0 DISCLAIMER:

2.0 REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

3.0 BACKGROUND OF AIRDROP DATA

4.0 CURRENT HIGH ALTITUDE AIRDROP THEORY OF OPERATION

5.0 STATEMENT OF NEED

6.0 RESPONSE

7.0 RESPONSE FORMAT

AFLCMC/HBMK 24-161

1.0 DISCLAIMER:

This notice is for information and planning purposes only. In accordance with Part 10 of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), the Government is conducting market research to determine the availability and adequacy of potential business sources in developing a solution for single pass airdrop which is identified below that meets the Government's requirements. This RFI does not constitute a solicitation for bids or proposals, and it is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government. The information herein is subject to change and in no way binds the Government to solicit for or award a competitive contract. Proprietary information and trade secrets shall NOT be submitted in response to this RFI. The Government will not review any submittals with proprietary information or trade secrets. The Government is not obligated to and will not reimburse the Contractor for any costs associated with preparing or submitting a response to this notice and submittals will not be returned to the sender.

This RFI is from the Airspace Mission Planning Division (C3M) of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC), located at 16 Eglin Street, Hanscom AFB, MA 01731.

AFLCMC/C3M is seeking information from interested Contractors.

Any response submitted to this RFI constitutes consent for that submission to be reviewed by Government personnel, Federally Funded Research and Development Center employees, System Engineering Integration Contract employees, and Advisory & Assistance Services contractor employees supporting AFLCMC/C3M employed by Leidos Inc, Odyssey Systems Consulting Group LLC, Torch Technologies, Oasis Systems LLC, Sumaria Systems, LLC, and HX5 Corporation, unless the respondent clearly objects in writing to the release of this information to Federally Funded Research and Development Center employees, System Engineering Integration Contract employees, and Advisory & Assistance Services contractor employees supporting AFLCMC/C3M in a cover letter accompanying your response.

2.0 REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

2.1 The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC), Airspace Mission Planning Division, Battle Management Directorate (AFLCMC/C3M), Joint Precision Air Drop System – Mission Planning (JPADS-MP) Program Office is conducting market research to determine if industry has existing technology or a product to resolve the problem statement and gap provided in paragraphs 5.1 and 5.2, with a goal to replace the methodology currently used by Mobility Air Forces to collect atmospheric data at a drop zone to produce a Computed Air Release Point (CARP) or Launch Acceptability Region (LAR) for airdrop operations.

2.2 The Government will review and consider any non-proprietary product that is customarily available in the commercial marketplace with or without modifications that industry deems capable, or potentially capable, of resolving the problem statement. This market research phase may include follow-up discussion activities to exchange details of potential solutions.

Additional helpful information includes possible candidate products, test data, and an estimated cost to deploy a ready solution.

3.0 BACKGROUND OF AIRDROP DATA

3.1 The DoD conducts low- and high-altitude airdrop operations. Both types of airdrop operations involve the use of various airdrop-related data from multiple sources. The Air Force Weather 4D forecast, parachute ballistics, and drop zone data are the prominent data types used for airdrop operations. In addition, the Air Force uses dropsondes to collect current weather data at the drop zone prior to delivery of payloads via airdrop.

3.2 The U.S. Air Force Mission Planning System laptop ingests the Air Force Weather 4D forecast and then assimilates dropsonde data to produce a mean effective wind for calculating a precision airdrop high altitude release point or launch acceptability region. Atmospheric data collected from the dropsonde at the drop zone prior to the time of the payload release from the aircraft can contribute as much as 42% to the impact point accuracy, depending on the airdrop altitude and type of parachute being used.

4.0 CURRENT HIGH ALTITUDE AIRDROP THEORY OF OPERATION

4.1 High altitude airdrop operations are used to resupply remote combat outposts, and active, forward deployed operations.

4.2 Prior to the aircrew stepping to the aircraft, they are issued dropsondes, and the aircraft is equipped with a roll-on/roll-off Dropsonde Receiver. The roll-on/roll-off receiver is connected to the aircraft’s lower antenna to receive the dropsonde transmission. An Ethernet cable connects the receiver to the carry-on Air Force Mission Planning tablet-computer.

4.3 The roll-on/roll-off receiver is designed to receive GPS data from dropsondes simultaneously during their descent. The Air Force Mission Planning tablet-computer ingests the dropsonde GPS data and then assimilates the data with AFW-WEBS 4D forecast data to produce an updated Computed Air Release Point or Launch Acceptability Region for the payload being airdropped.

The Dropsonde National Stock Number is 6660-01-576-7106.

The Dropsonde Receiver National Stock Number is 5821-01-593-2710 and 5821-01-593- 2711.

5.0 STATEMENT OF NEED

5.1 Problem Statement/Situation:

Currently, Dropsondes are released from the airdrop aircraft on the first pass near the planned drop zone to collect localized wind information and compute an optimized air release point and launch acceptability region. During descent, the dropsonde data is transmitted to the aircraft, transferred to the JPADS-MP, and used to compute an air release point. The aircraft must then make a second pass over the objective area to deliver the payload.

A new technology is requested by Air Mobility Command to get weather data quicker and more efficiently to mitigate having to do multiple passes over a drop zone. The goal is to obtain the weather data quick enough that the airdrop mission can be executed within one pass, creating efficiency and fuel savings.

5.2 Technical Solution/Need:

1. A solution or technology that allows the DoD to gather wind data for a drop zone in the same pass an aircraft would deliver a payload via airdrop.

2. A solution or technology that is either hardware or software related that is already developed or mostly developed.

3. A solution or technology that can provide accurate wind and weather data in-flight that can be transferred back to aircrews so a new CARP can be calculated.

5.3 Limitations:

1. The alternative solution should not require other manned or unmanned aircraft to be tasked to collect meteorological data at the drop zone. Rationale: Manned and unmanned aircraft resources may not be available to support the collection of meteorological data at the drop zone and if so, could impose risk to impending operations and personnel in a potentially hostile environment.

2. The alternative solution should not require placement of meteorological instruments on the ground at the drop zone. Rationale: The airdrop objective area may not have the presence of personnel to set-up meteorological instruments, and the placement of meteorological instruments at the drop zone would be an operational security (OPSEC) indicator and risk mission success.

3. The alternative solution should not require permanent modification to aircraft. Rationale:

Permanent modifications to a fleet of over 500 aircraft requires in-depth aircraft engineering analysis, possible secondary and tertiary effects on other aircraft systems, is time-consuming, and can be costly, requiring fiscal and future year defense planning and Congressional budget approval uncertainty.

6.0 RESPONSE

6.1 The response to this RFI shall be due no later than 1 August 2024 at 4:00PM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). Submit the response to Matthew MacEachern;

matthew.maceachern@us.af.mil and Kelley Fahy; kelley.fahy@us.af.mil.

6.2 The response to this RFI shall NOT contain National Defense and National Security Classified information.

6.3 The Government will not reimburse the respondent for any cost associated with preparing or submitting a response to this RFI. All submissions to this RFI become Government property and will not be returned.

6.4 A submitted response to this RFI constitutes consent for the submission to be reviewed by Government personnel, Federally Funded Research and Development Center employees, Advisory & Assistance Services (A&AS) contractor employees supporting AFLCMC/C3M, and System Engineering & Integration Contract (SEIC) support contractors employed by Leidos Surveillance and Reconnaissance and Intelligence System Services assigned to the JPADS team.

Any objection by a respondent shall be done so in writing using a cover letter accompanying your response.

6.5 The response should include the answers to the following questions:

1. A brief description of your single pass airdrop solution.

2. Is your solution, software or hardware related, or both?

3. What is the accuracy of your solution to provide accurate wind data?

4. How would this data be transferred back to the aircrews?

5. How quickly does your solution pull wind and weather data?

6. If in development, what stage in development?

7.0 RESPONSE FORMAT

7.1 The response to this RFI shall be in the form of a white paper, size 12 font, and shall not exceed 10 single pages.

7.2 Section 1 of the white paper shall provide administrative information (not included in the page count), and shall include the following:

1. Agency or Company Information. Name, mailing address, overnight delivery address (if different from mailing address), phone number, fax number, and e-mail of designated point of contact.

2. Business type pursuant to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code 334519. List your business type and whether self-certified or third party certified mailto:matthew.maceachern@us.af.mil mailto:kelley.fahy@us.af.mil

(e.g. large business, small business, women-owned small business, economically disadvantaged women, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned, HUBZone certified, University, Federally Funded Research Development Center, etc.).

3. State whether the company, product, or sub-components are domestically or foreign owned.

Appendix A – Characteristics of an Atmospheric Data Source for Conducting Precision Airdrop

Category Attribute Performance Value Operational Environment Measurement Altitude 100 m AGL to 35,000 ft MSL Measurement Area 12 sq km

Active Remote Sensing Comparison w/DZ sounding u wind Correlation Error >0.85 at 100 m AGL 12 km radius v wind Correlation Error >0.85 at 100 m AGL 12 km radius u wind Correlation Error >0.90 at 2000 m AGL 12 km radius v wind Correlation Error >0.90 at 2000 m AGL 12 km radius u wind Correlation Error ≥0.95 at ≥5000 m AGL 12km radius v wind Correlation Error ≥0.95 at ≥5000 m AGL 12km radius u wind Regression Error ≤2.2 at 100 m AGL 12 km radius v wind Regression Error ≤2.2 at 100 m AGL 12 km radius u wind Regression Error ≤2.0 at 2000 m AGL 12 km radius v wind Regression Error ≤2.0 at 2000 m AGL 12 km radius

Import Data Data Processing Level 2

Sustainment Maintenance Depot-level

Documentation User’s Manual Portable Document Format (PDF) Theory of Operation PDF