ESSM Seeker System Sources Sought_revision 20 March 2026.pdf

Evolved SEASPARROW Missile (ESSM) Releasable Seeker Assembly Sources Sought

Background/Program Details:

The NATO SEASPARROW Project Office (NSPO), PEO IWS 12.0, is seeking concepts for a seeker subsystem for their Next Significant Variant (NSV) of the ESSM missile. The seeker assembly must be fully releasable to all 12 Nations and be designed to enable long-term affordability, rapid capability insertion, and international cooperation.

To meet these goals, NSPO expects the seeker design to follow an open, modular, and standards-driven architecture and to incorporate open-source principles and deliverables wherever feasible. This approach will simplify future upgrades, promote interoperability across consortium platforms, and outpace evolving threats.

The NSPO is the program office responsible for the Evolved Seasparrow family of missiles.

NSPO is a twelve-nation consortium (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Türkiye, United States) with a mission to provide a platform for international cooperation and innovation to manage the development, production, integration, and sustainment of effective, reliable, and affordable weapon systems to protect consortium and partner nation forces from current and future threats. More information on the NATO SEASPARROW Surface Missile System Project can be found at this link; https://www.natoseasparrow.org/.

The pace by which adversary’s weapons systems evolve challenges the consortium test community’s development and acquisition cycle timelines. Therefore, to reduce the number of acquisition cycles, a modern, open, flexible, and modular seeker is vital for NSPO to outpace our adversaries.

This RFI is seeking concept descriptions for a missile seeker assembly design that satisfies the operational needs described below. Figure 1 is an example of the operational view for the missile system.

Figure 1: Distribution Statement A. approved for public release: distribution is unlimited. Example Operational View

Requirements for Seeker Assembly The future seeker assembly should have capability against current and future threat classes spanning a variety of threat characteristics including velocity (low-speed to high-speed), altitude (sea skimming to high diver), maneuverability (non-maneuvering to high G weaves) and signatures. The seeker should be able to work in complex natural, RF and/or IR environments.

The seeker should have capability to perform target search & acquisition processing using cueing information provided by an external source. It should have the capability to track multiple targets within its field of regard. The seeker should have the capability to discriminate and resolve between multiple targets and to provide threat track measurements to support missile guidance, navigation and fuzing functions. The seeker should have the capability to handle threat countermeasures.

The proposed seeker system must be able to integrate with a 10” diameter missile body to maintain Mk 41 quad-pack compatibility. The seeker subsystem must be integrated into the missile guidance section. Design considerations should be made to minimize size, weight and power consumption of the seeker subsystem

The seeker should be releasable to entire ESSM Consortium (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Türkiye, and the United States.)

To support the NSV, NSPO intends the seeker design and supporting software/firmware to follow an open-source architecture approach. The Government is seeking responses that describe architectures and deliverables that: provide the Government maximum rights in technical data, computer software, and computer software documentation (including source code), design artifacts, and interface specifications under a license consistent with at least Government Purpose Rights under the DFARS, or a similar deliverable model. The Government anticipates that any future solicitation and/or source selection will emphasize data rights licenses pursuant to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS).

1. SYNOPSIS

THIS SPECIAL NOTICE IS AN ADVANCED NOTICE FOR INFORMATION, MARKET RESEARCH, AND

PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP). THERE WILL NOT BE SOLICITATION AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS FOR THE PURPOSE OF MARKET RESEARCH ONLY AND MAY OR MAY NOT TRANSLATE INTO AN ACTUAL PROCUREMENT. THERE IS NO

FUNDING ASSOCIATED WITH THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.

The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), NATO Seasparrow Project Office, is conducting market research to assess opportunities to develop and produce a seeker system releasable to all NATO Seasparrow Consortium navies that meets the restrictions and provides the capabilities listed below.

The Capabilities Statement should describe the company's demonstrated capabilities and experience with designing, integrating, testing and/or producing open-source modeling and simulation tools.

Failure to provide a response does not preclude participation in any possible future RFP, if issued.

2. RESPONSE REQUIREMENTS

2.1 General. Interested parties shaII submit, on company letterhead, one Capabilities Statement including the name, telephone number, mailing address, and email address of one point of contact.

Please send the unclassified Capabilities Statement via email to Contracting Officer, Megan Galloway, at Megan.e.galloway2.civ@us.navy.mil and Contract

Specialist, Allie Mullin, at alexandra.j.mullin.civ@us.navy.mil with N00024-26-R-5425 Sources Sought in the subject field. More information on how to provide unclassified and classified responses is below.

2.2 Page Format. Responses shall be submitted in Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF) format and reference: N00024-26-R-5425 Sources Sought. Page size must be

8.5 x 11 inches. The top, bottom, and side margins must be at least 1 inch. Pages must be numbered sequentially. The text must be no less than 12 points and use Times New Roman font.

2.3 Page Limitations. The Capabilities Statement shall not exceed 15 single-sided pages. Each page must be counted except for the following:

• Cover Page

• Company Information

• Company Size and Status

2.4 Organization & Content. Responses shall be organized into the following sections with the following information:

A. Introduction - Provide a brief company introduction and relevant details of the company/organization, including any potential teaming approach. Additionally, interested parties shall identify if their company has the capability to be a prime contractor or if it is only interested in subcontracting opportunities. Ensure responses include the following information:

a. Company name

b. Company primary and alternate points of contact (title, email and phone)

c. Company address

d. DUNS Number / SAM ID

e. CAGE code

f. Business size

g. Status

B. Capabilities - Address the contractor's ability to manage the types and magnitude of tasking, technical ability to perform the task, and the capacity to conduct the requirements of the task.

C. Experience - This section should describe specific demonstrated capabilities. This includes the knowledge and experience that the company/organization possesses for each capability.

Identify any demonstrated expertise and experience that can be directly applied to the development and evaluation of military missile system capabilities. Identify any experience working on international military development programs. Identify any past experience working with the Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) system. Identify any experience with model-based systems engineering. Detail the applicable seeker technology Verification, Validation, and Accreditation (VV&A) history as well as any VV&A efforts currently underway. Please provide examples of relevant and recent (within three years before the date of this RFI posting) past performance of all topics in this section.

Please include contracts and Government sponsor points of contact where the experience described was completed.

D. State whether you can comply with all applicable export controls that may apply to your chosen technical data and/or technologies (in particular, International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR), and how you will comply with any U.S. domestic sourcing restrictions such as the Buy American Act and the DFARS clause 232.225.7007 Prohibition on Acquisition of Certain Items from Communist Chinese Military Companies). State how you will contend with export to all of the 12 consortium nations, including Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Türkiye, and United States. All submissions shall be marked with any export control restrictions and in accordance with all export control laws, so that that the Government is on notice of any export control restrictions that apply. Please see Section 4 “DISCLAIMER” below for the list of nations whose personnel will be provided any submissions.

E. State whether you will be the actual producer of this item, or if you intend to subcontract all or a portion of the requirement. If you are not the actual producer, indicate what development operations you intend to subcontract.

F. A description of the Rough Order of Magnitude (cost) for designing and building a prototype.

a. Projected or potential major cost drivers and mitigations to control costs in design and development.

G. Provide a notional anticipated development timeline to achieve a prototype seeker.

H. Established facility clearance up to SECRET and current COMSEC accounts.

a. Demonstrate that the company has adequate program personnel with security clearances at or equivalent to United States SECRET.

I. Responses to this RFI should provide:

a. A description of the proposed seeker’s relevant physical characteristics to include the following:

Instantaneous field of view/beamwidth Gimbal limits/field of regard Operating frequency Operating bandwidth Transmit power Receiver sensitivity Range resolution Estimate of system losses Physical dimensions and weight

Power requirements

b. A description of the risk areas in the sensor system development, integration, demonstration and manufacturing program phases, including risks introduced by third-party/open-source components.

c. An assessment of the Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) of the seeker subsystem.

d. An assessment of the Manufacturing Readiness Levels (MRLs) of the seeker subsystem.

e. A detailed description of the seeker capability to perform search, acquisition, tracking & discrimination functions, in the full range of environmental effects including, but not limited to, rain, snow, fog, humidity, and at full range of sea state. Include software descriptions and reference implementations (i.e. block diagram, pseudocode) to the extent possible; state which software components will be delivered as open-source (source code, test vectors, performance datasets) and which are proprietary, with justification.

f. A description of the seeker capability to operate in close proximity to multiple other seekers.

g. A description of the operational regimes (speed, environments, signatures) in which the seeker is capable.

h. A description of the sensor technology capability to handle threat countermeasures.

i. A description of any seeker subsystem components and/or functionality. For each component, state its ownership model (fully government-owned deliverable, open-source licensed, third-party proprietary) and the intended deliverables (source code, design drawings, interface control documents). Include expected compatibility with common open standards and the upgrade/replacement strategy for individual modules.

j. A description of seeker interface requirements.

k. Identify seeker subsystem support & maintenance requirements (calibration, cooling system re-charging, etc.), associated schedules, and data or analysis on service life.

l. Identify any concerns regarding proprietary information or releasability/export of the seeker design to the entire ESSM Consortium (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Türkiye, and the United States.)

2.5 Data Right Assertions: The government anticipates that the source for the development of all the technical data, training material and software deliverables, including all components of same, would-be Government funded under a contract effort, with the result that the Government will receive unlimited rights in all such deliverables. A level 3 TDP provides the information necessary to fully define the item and enable the procurement or manufacture of an item. The product shall be defined to the extent necessary for a competent manufacturer to produce an item, which duplicates the physical, interface, and functional characteristics of the product. The product data shall reflect the approved, tested, and verified configuration of the defined delivered item. If to be delivered with less than unlimited rights as defined under the DFARS, please identify every deliverable or every component of every deliverable, that will be delivered with a restriction on the Government’s rights;

for this request for information, please follow the procedure and format for Assertions of Restrictions in DFARS 252.227-7017, which the government will consider to be a notional Assertion.

Indicate in this notional Assertion any uncertain entries, and the basis of that uncertainty, that might change in a formal Assertion if a contract were awarded to the respondent. For any software deliverable or deliverable component, identify any portions of software that come from existing commercial software or from open-source software.

2.6 Classification. RESPONSES MUST BE SUBMITTED THROUGH THE APPROPRIATE CHANNELS FOR

THEIR CLASSIFICATION AND MUST NOT BE CLASSIFIED HIGHER THAN THE SECRET LEVEL.

• FOR UNCLASSIFIED RESPONSES: Interested parties shaII submit via email to Contracting Officer, Megan Galloway, at Megan.e.galloway2.civ@us.navy.mil and Contract Specialist, Allie Mullin, at alexandra.j.mullin.civ@us.navy.mil with N00024-26-R- 5425 Sources Sought in the subject field.

• FOR CLASSIFIED RESPONSE: Interested parties shall communicate their intent to transmit classified responses for this RFI to Contracting Officer, Megan Galloway, at Megan.e.galloway2.civ@us.navy.mil and Contract Specialist, Allie Mullin, at alexandra.j.mullin.civ@us.navy.mil with “(U) N00024-26-R-5425 Sources Sought – Intent to Provide a Classified Response” in the subject field no later than 20 April 2026. Interested parties will then receive guidance on how their organization will be vetted for classified communications with NSPO/PEO IWS 12.0 and how to transmit their classified responses. NSPO/PEO IWS 12.0 will accept classified responses electronically through SIPRNet and NSPO’s classified network. Respondents will also be able to send physical media (paper-copy documents or physical Compact Disc (CDs)) in accordance with their Nation’s policies on classified transmissions.

2.7 Business Size. Large business concerns and all small business concerns are highly encouraged to respond

2.8 Deadline. Interested parties shall submit one electronic response via email by 17:00 Washington, DC local time, Eastern Time (ET) on 27 April 2026 to Contracting Officer, Megan Galloway, at

Megan.e.galloway2.civ@us.navy.mil and Contract Specialist, Allie Mullin, at alexandra.j.mullin.civ@us.navy.mil.

3. DISCLAIMER

THIS REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI), AS DEFINED IN FAR 15.201(e), IS SOLELY FOR INFORMATIONAL AND PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY AND SHALL NOT BE CONSTRUED AS A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL, REQUEST FOR QUOTE (or any type of solicitation), OR AS AN OBLIGATION OR COMMITMENT ON THE PART OF THE GOVERNMENT TO CONTRACT FOR ANY SUPPLY OR SERVICE, or as a promise to issue a solicitation in the future. THERE WILL NOT BE A SOLICITATION, SPECIFICATIONS, OR DRAWINGS AVAILABLE. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT MAY OR MAY NOT TRANSLATE INTO AN ACTUAL

PROCUREMENT(S) IN FUTURE YEARS. THERE IS NO FUNDING ASSOCIATED WITH THIS

ANNOUNCEMENT. IN ACCORDANCE WITH FAR 15.201(e) RESPONSES TO THIS NOTICE ARE NOT OFFERS

AND CANNOT BE ACCEPTED BY THE GOVERNMENT TO FORM A BINDING CONTRACT. THE

GOVERNMENT IS NOT AT THIS TIME SEEKING PROPOSALS AND WILL NOT ACCEPT UNSOLICITED

PROPOSALS. RESPONDENTS ARE ADVISED THAT THE GOVERNMENT WILL NOT PAY FOR ANY

INFORMATION OR ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS INCURRED IN RESPONSE TO THIS RFI; ALL COSTS

ASSOCIATED WITH RESPONDING TO THIS RFI WILL BE SOLELY AT THE RESPONDENT’S EXPENSE.

Failure to respond to this RFI itself does not preclude participation in response to any future solicitation, if any is issued. If a solicitation is issued, it will be publicized in accordance with law and policy. The information provided in this RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government.

It is the responsibility of potential respondents to monitor these sites for additional information pertaining to this requirement. The information requested by this RFI will be used within the U.S.

Navy/Department of the Navy to facilitate decision making and may be used in the development of the acquisition strategy and any future solicitations. Any information provided by industry to the Government because of this RFI is voluntary. Other requests for information contained in this RFI shall be referred to Contracting Officer, Megan Galloway, at Megan.e.galloway2.civ@us.navy.mil and Contract Specialist, Allie Mullin, at alexandra.j.mullin.civ@us.navy.mil.

Proprietary information, if there is any, must be clearly marked. To aid the Government in its review and evaluation, please segregate proprietary information and label it as such page-by-page and paragraph- by-paragraph for appropriate handling by the Government. Respondents are solely responsible for properly marking and clearly identifying any proprietary information or trade secrets contained within their response. All information received that includes proprietary markings will be handled in accordance with applicable law and policy. An acknowledgement of receipt will be provided for all responses received. If you do not receive an acknowledgement within two working days, please notify the points of contact listed in this notice. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned. Respondents that include in their submissions data that they do not want disclosed to the public for any purpose, or to be used by the Government for purposes other than consideration of RFI responses, shall include in their submissions:

1) Mark the title page with the following legend: This response includes data that shall not be disclosed to the public and shall not be duplicated, used, or disclosed – in whole or in part – for any purpose other than to consider this response. The data subject to this restriction are contained in sheets [insert numbers or other identification of sheets]; and

2) Mark each sheet of data it wishes to restrict with the following legend: Use or disclosure of data contained in on this sheet is subject to the restriction on the title page of this submission.

All submitted materials will be designated for Government Use Only, which includes the U.S.

Government and other governments that are affiliated with the NATO SEASPARROW PROJECT OFFICE; specifically: Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Türkiye. Any information submitted which is to be provided and reviewed only by Government personnel of these nations, shall be clearly marked as such. Unless materials are unambiguously marked restricting review to only Government personnel, submitting materials in response to this sources sought notice shall constitute permission, pursuant to the Trade Secrets Act, for the Government to disclose the submitted materials to the Government support contractor, BAE Systems. The support contractor will assist the Government consider the responses.

The Government shall not be liable for any consequential damages for proprietary information not properly identified. Proprietary information will be safeguarded in accordance with the applicable law.