Non-Rotating Antenna Market Survey Final.pdf

Market Survey Announcement:

Non-Rotating Antennas to Support NAS

Modernization and On-Going BNATCS Efforts

1. INTRODUCTION

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is conducting market research to identify commercially available and emerging Non-Rotating Antenna radar technologies and related surveillance solutions capable of supporting modernization objectives under the Brand New Air

Traffic Control System (BNATCS) initiative. The FAA is looking to determine market capabilities to potentially replace integrated, non-cooperative-only (NCSR-Only), and cooperative-only (CSR-Only) surveillance antenna systems1.

The FAA seeks information from industry regarding product maturity, technical readiness, deployment viability, manufacturing readiness, integration considerations, and implementation risks associated with non-rotating antenna technologies applicable to the National Airspace

System (NAS).

2. Government Disclaimers

• This announcement is being issued in accordance with the FAA Acquisition Management

System (AMS) Section 3.2.1.2.1.

• This is not a Screening Information Request (SIR) or Request for Proposal (RFP). The responses to this market survey will be used for informational purposes only. The FAA is not seeking or accepting unsolicited proposals. Respondents are advised that the FAA will not pay for any information received or for administrative costs incurred in preparing a response to the market survey. Any costs associated with responding to this market survey are solely at the interested respondent’s expense.

• To the extent that information received in response to this market survey is proprietary or otherwise confidential commercial information, the respondent should mark its response with a restrictive legend and should be willing to provide justification to the FAA of such

1 Going forward all Primary Surveillance Radars (PSR) will be Non-Cooperative Surveillance Radars (NCSR) and all Secondary Surveillance Radars (SSR) will be Cooperative Surveillance Radars (CSR). Integrated systems will be a combination of NCSR and CSR.

designations if requested. This market survey in no way alters the FAA’s obligations under existing law, including any duties owed by the FAA under the Freedom of Information Act.

• Vendor responses to this Market Survey and any follow-up inquiries by the Government are for informational purposes only do not constitute a promise or obligation of future business with the FAA. In addition, Vendor responses will not be viewed by the FAA as a commitment by the respondents to submit a proposal for any competitive solicitations initiated by the FAA in relation to the services described in this Market Survey/RFI.

3. Purpose

The FAA is seeking to gain a better understanding of industry’s non-rotating antenna capabilities. Interested respondents are encouraged to respond to this market survey in accordance with the instructions herein. The purpose of this market survey is to:

• Notify respondents of the FAA’s intent to potentially replace the existing rotating antenna infrastructure with a non-rotating antenna industry alternative.

• Identify available products in the marketplace that could meet the FAA’s requirements for a non-rotating antenna system, including creating a pathway for existing product demonstrations.

• Obtain industry feedback on the infrastructure options for a non-rotating antenna solution. Current FAA tower dimensions are available in Attachment 1: ASR Tower

Dimensions.

• Obtain industry insight regarding integration and support strategies for a non-rotating antenna solution.

The FAA recognizes that several non-rotating antenna related technologies have demonstrated capability in maritime or defense applications. However, additional insight is required to assess:

• Adaptability to fixed land-based civil aviation environments

• Operational suitability within the NAS

• Compliance with civil aviation surveillance requirements

• Integration with existing FAA radars, automation, and infrastructure (including towers)

• Product maturity for production-scale deployment

Section 7 of this market survey provides the respondent with a list of questions to address the above points. The respondent should consider the information provided in Sections 4-6 before answering the market survey provided questions.

4. Rough Order of Magnitude Pricing

The Government requests a Rough Order of Magnitude Pricing (ROM) estimate for the implementation of your proposed non-rotating antenna solution. Respondents should categorize costs according to the following structure to assist the FAA in comparing Model A and Model B financial impacts:

• Non-Recurring costs for integration, testing, and validation with electronics and physical tower structure:

o CSR o NCSR

• Hardware Acquisition:

o Unit costs for one 1st Article Asset

▪ CSR

▪ NCSR

o Low-Rate Production costs:

▪ 10 CSRs

▪ 10 NCSRs

• Cost for implementation & deployment per unit:

o CSR o NCSR

5. Operational Considerations

Industry responses should address the applicability of proposed solutions within the following operational environments:

Operational Domain Description

Enroute Long-range CSR-only (200-256 NM)

Terminal Short-to-medium range surveillance supporting TRACON operations (60-120 NM).

Integrated, NCSR-only, and CSR-only systems

Remote/Harsh

Environment

Coastal, mountainous, high-wind, or severe weather environments

Dense Airspace High target density and interference environments

Terminal: 700 Targets

En Route: 1400 Targets

Frequency Domains L-Band: 1030 MHz and 1090 MHz

S-Band: 2700-2900 MHz

ADS-B: UAT – 978 MHz

6. FAA Non-Rotating Antenna Objectives

The FAA continues to modernize surveillance capabilities within the NAS through initiatives supporting the BNATCS effort and broader Air Traffic Organization surveillance modernization objectives. Current FAA surveillance infrastructure being updated under BNATCS Radar System

Replacement (RSR) program includes both cooperative and non-cooperative radar systems supporting terminal and enroute operations. The FAA is currently working with two vendors on the BNATCS RSR effort: Raytheon Company and Indra Group. The FAA is installing the following radars from these companies:

Vendor Radar Type and Name

Raytheon

Company

NCSR: ASR-XM

CSR: Condor Mk3

Indra Group NCSR: PSR-2D (PSR2D-C6)

CSR: MSSR-NEO (Mode S-INT)

The FAA is evaluating future surveillance antenna technologies that improve:

• System reliability and resiliency

• Lifecycle sustainment costs

• Detection performance

• Spectrum efficiency

• Operational availability

• Maintainability

• Multi-domain surveillance capabilities

Non-Rotating Antenna technologies represent a potential modernization path that may eliminate or reduce dependencies on traditional mechanically rotating antenna systems and associated sustainment challenges such as rotary joints, motors, slip rings, and mechanical drive assemblies.

Non-rotating antenna could also represent a chance to eliminate the need for radomes in certain areas of the NAS.

7. Questions to Industry

Based on the information provided in the above sections, the FAA is interested in seeking information in the form of questions stated below. Please provide yes or no answers where applicable. If needed, please add any additional information after the questions section in your document. More information on submittal instructions is in Section 8.

Table 1: Overall Questions

Question: Respondent Answer:

1 Do the respondent’s Non-Rotating Antennas support non-cooperative only, cooperative only, or integrated applications?

Yes / No

2 Is the respondent’s system able to handle ATCRBS, Mode

S, and ADS-B (978 MHz and/or 1090 MHz)?

ATCRBS: Yes / No

Mode S: Yes / No

ADS-B: Yes / No

3 Based on the tower specifications and drawings in

Attachment 1, can the respondent’s non-rotating antenna system interface with the current FAA infrastructure?

Yes / No

4 Is the system able to handle current FAA ASR scan rates

(4.6 to 12 seconds per scan or 5 to 13 RPM)?

If yes, what are the viable scan rates for the system

Yes / No

Scan Rates:

5 What azimuth information is provided from the system?

Please provide azimuth information.

6 What are the maintenance requirements for the system?

Please provide maintenance requirements in brief detail.

7 Does the respondent’s system have adjustable tilt? If yes, what range of tilt is the system capable of? If no, how is the system optimized.

If Yes, Antenna Tilt Range:

If No, Describe the optimization process.

8 Based on Section 4 ROM Pricing, what is the respondent’s estimated dates for each of the production quantities?

1st Article:

• CSR

• NCSR

Low-Rate Production:

• 1st CSR

• 10th CSR

• 1st NCSR

• 10th NCSR

Table 2: NCSR Antenna Questions

Question: Respondent Answer:

1 What is the respondent’s current Technology Readiness

Level (TRL)? Note: Level 3 is the minimally acceptable for response consideration.

Describe remaining activities and duration to achieve Level

8.

Current TRL (3-9):

Describe activities needed to reach TRL of 8.

2 Provide the current Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL).

Note: Level 4 is the minimally acceptable for response consideration.

Describe remaining activities and duration to achieve Level

Current MRL (4-10):

reach MRL of 8.

3 Does the respondent’s system have the capabilities listed in

Section 5? If applicable, provide a description of how the solution supports the FAA's operational domains?

• Terminal: Short to Medium Ranges = 60/120 NM

• Remote/Harsh: Coastal, mountainous, high-wind, or severe weather environments

• Dense: Terminal = Able to handle 700 Targets

• Frequency: S-Band = 2700-2900 MHz

Terminal: Yes / No

Remote or Harsh: Yes / No

Dense: Yes / No

Frequency: Yes / No

4 Is the respondent able to interface with the BNACTS RSR

NCSR radar systems?

If no, please provide detail on what development is needed to interface with the current radars.

Raytheon ASR-XM:

Indra PSR-2D:

If no, please provide what development would be needed.

5 Is the system able to handle 62.5 dBW average power with a peak power of 72.5 dBW of the current BNATCS NSCR radar systems?

If no, what power can the respondent’s system handle?

Please provide in dBW.

If no, what power can the system handle?

6 What, if any, technical and programmatic risks would the respondent associate with deploying a non-rotating antenna system within the NAS today?

Please provide a description.

Table 3: CSR Antenna Questions

Question: Respondent Answer:

1 What is the respondent’s current Technology Readiness

Level (TRL)? Note: Level 3 is the minimally acceptable for response consideration.

Describe remaining activities and duration to achieve Level

Current TRL (3-9):

reach TRL of 8.

2 Provide the current Manufacturing Readiness Level (MRL).

Note: Level 4 is the minimally acceptable for response consideration.

Describe remaining activities and duration to achieve Level

Current MRL (4-10):

reach MRL of 8.

3 Does the respondent’s system have the capabilities listed in

Section 5? If applicable, provide a description of how the solution supports the FAA's operational domains?

• En Route: Long Ranges = 200-256 NM

• Terminal: Short to Medium Ranges = 60/120 NM

• Remote/Harsh: Coastal, mountainous, high-wind, or severe weather environments

• Dense: Terminal = Able to handle 700 Targets

• Frequency: S-Band = 2700-2900 MHz

En Route: Yes / No

What is the system’s maximum range if under

256 NM?

Terminal: Yes / No

Remote or Harsh: Yes / No

Dense: Yes / No

Frequency: Yes / No

4 Is the respondent able to interface with the BNACTS RSR

CSR radar systems?

If no, please provide detail on what development is needed to interface with the current radars.

Raytheon Condor Mk3:

Indra MSSR-NEO:

If no, please provide what development would be needed.

5 Is the system able to handle 21 dBW average power with a peak power of 34 dBW of the current BNATCS CSR radar systems?

If no, what power can the respondent’s system handle?

Please provide in dBW.

If no, what power can the system handle?

6 What, if any, technical and programmatic risks would the respondent associate with deploying a non-rotating antenna system within the NAS today?

Please provide a description.

The FAA recognizes that respondents may possess varying levels of interest, capability, or expertise across the areas addressed in this market survey and encourages participation from a broad range of industry stakeholders, including responses addressing only those areas aligned with the respondent’s experience or offerings.

8. Submission Instructions

The respondent must have a non-rotating antenna with at least a TRL of 3 and an MRL of 4 to be eligible for this market survey. Those respondents under these levels will not be considered.

The FAA requests interested respondents to provide answers to the questions above in the exact format provided in Section 7. Any additional descriptions should be added onto the document after all the tables and provide complete, concise, thorough responses to those questions that require additional information. The additional description section must include the table name and question number prior to providing those extra details. The pages in the response are to be typed in Times New Roman font; no smaller than 12 point, except for footnotes which may be

10-point; on standard 8.5” by 11” paper. Margins should be at least one inch on all four sides.

The document shall be submitted as a PDF. Please name the PDF document “Market Survey

Response – [RESPONDENT COMPANY NAME]. Please limit company background information to one page and the entire document shall not exceed 5 pages.

If you respond prior to final submission of the Market Survey with questions, please put all questions and comments in Attachment 2: Questions and Comments Matrix. When responding in this manner, please change the name of the attachment to “Attachment 2 – Comment and

Question Matrix - [RESPONDENT COMPANY NAME].

Responses must be submitted to the Contract Specialist and Contracting Officer (whose contact information is below) via email only by May 29, 2026, at 3:00pm ET. Market survey submissions received after this date and time will be determined late and may not be considered when the FAA refines its acquisition alternatives and program requirements in support of the non-rotating antenna Investment Analysis Readiness Decision. Any proprietary or confidential information contained in the market survey submissions must be appropriately marked, per your company policy.

FAA Contract Specialist and Contracting Officer Information:

Jackson LeMay

Contract Specialist, AAQ-590

Email: Jackson.T.Lemay@faa.gov

Kristin Frantz

Contracting Officer, AAQ-590

Email: kristin.t.frantz@faa.gov

Respondent responses will not be returned and will remain the property of the FAA. The FAA will not be entertaining or responding to questions regarding this market survey at this time. To ensure a comprehensive review of industry perspectives, respondents are encouraged to include any clarifying questions, assumptions, or concerns as a formal attachment to their market survey response. Any clarifying questions do not count against the page limit, and the Government may use these questions to inform future solicitations or formal Q&A sessions. The FAA may or may not provide feedback on any of the submitted materials. The Government does not intend to release or distribute any of the information contained in the Market Survey responses.

9.

List of Attachments

Attachment 1: ASR Tower Dimensions

Attachment 2: Comment and Question Matrix

END OF ANNOUNCEMENT

mailto:Jackson.T.Lemay@faa.gov mailto:kristin.t.frantz@faa.gov