Statement_of_Work_(SOW-1)Purchase_of_Tungsten_Core_ATC_Redacted.pdf

Statement of Work

Tungsten Cores

Aberdeen Test Center, Grenade Range

General

This purpose of this requirement is to purchase a quantity of 10,000 tungsten cores in accordance with Drawing No. 16-0280-GRP1-PRT5. These tungsten cores that will be used as penetrators to test armor solutions on combat vehicles during the Mid-Tier Acquisition phase of the Acquisition Process at the U.S. Aberdeen Test Center (The program name has been omitted due to the sensitivity of pairing the caliber of a penetrator with a vehicle platform). The tungsten cores will be utilized at, but not limited to, the Grenade Range test facility on ATC.

This acquisition is required per the vehicle platform’s Performance Specification document that defines what threats will engage the combat vehicle. These tungsten cores will be utilized during coupon, Ballistic Hull & Turret (BH&T), and Full-Up System Level (FUSL) testing to determine if the vehicle has vulnerabilities that need to be addressed. Each phase of testing will require thousands of rounds.

The tungsten cores will be packaged with sabots and pushers that will be machined at ATC, and fired with ATC’s weapon system. ATC’s weapon systems and flight packages have been developed to fire these tungsten cores IAW the drawing specifications provided. The tungsten cores will be pressed into the sabots, and the sabot will be screwed onto the pusher. Once assembled, these rounds will be fired using a weapon system at ATC. These penetrators will impact combat vehicles, and will be consumed during these. There are no surrogates or replacements for these tungsten cores. Without them, ATC cannot test to the Performance Specifications.

Salient Characteristics Requirement List

1. The finished items (Core, Tungsten, PALLAS 1.0) shall be produced in accordance with Drawing No. 16-0280-GRP1-PRT5 of the provided Government-owned technical data package dated 2 Aug 16).

2. The Government desires that all items received under this procurement shall come one lot of material. In the event that this is not achievable, the minimum acceptable lot size will be 500 units.

3. The Contractor shall provide Certificates of Compliance for all source materials used for construction of the penetrators.

4. The contractor shall provide a quantity of 50 finished items which are considered to be representative for each lot built to the Government for lot acceptance testing.

Lot Acceptance

5. The Government desires that all items received under this procurement shall come one lot of material. In the event that this is not achievable, the minimum acceptable lot size will be 500 units.

6. The Contractor shall provide Certificates of Compliance for all source materials used for construction of the penetrators.

7. The contractor shall provide a quantity of 50 finished items which are considered to be representative for each lot built to the Government for lot acceptance testing.

Test and Acceptance

The tungsten cores will need to go through 3 tests or quality checks to determine if the lots of tungsten cores are acceptable before the items can be fired at a test vehicle. If the items do not meet the minimum requirements, the tungsten cores cannot be used. If the items fail testing, they shall be returned to be reconstituted for additional penetrators that meet the requirements.

The lot acceptance protocol (in chronological order) is provided below:

1. Physical Characteristics

a. Dimensional conformance of a randomly selected sample of 10 penetrators from the initial group of 50 provided for lot acceptance testing will be conducted.

Should compliance be demonstrated on all 10 penetrators, the candidate lot will undergo chemical analysis for verification of material composition.

2. Chemical Analysis

a. Material composition will be verified via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) on a randomly selected sample of 3 penetrators from the initial group of 50 provided for lot acceptance testing. The particular penetrators used for this check may or may not come from the initial sample of 10 subjected to dimensional conformance. Should compliance be demonstrated on all 3 penetrators, the candidate lot will undergo terminal ballistic testing for verification of performance.

3. Ballistic Performance

Ballistic performance of the candidate lot of penetrators will be verified through the administration of a ballistic limit test:

a. Protection Ballistic Limit Testing - The purpose of this test is to quantify the performance (i.e. generating the response curve) of the candidate penetrator versus the reference armor material for comparison to a threshold value. This is achieved by firing a sequence of rounds at varying velocities utilizing the procedure as outlined in the LangMod Users Manual, ARL-TN-437, dated June 2011. Again, the reference armor material is Rolled Homogeneous Armor (RHA) steel, Class 1 (per MIL-DTL12560K) with a nominal thickness of 2.5 inches. A fair hit is defined as an individual shot having a maximum total yaw of no more than 2o.

For each type of test, armor defeat will be assessed based upon the signature on the witness material utilizing the protection criterion presented in U.S. Army Test Operations Procedure 2-2-710A, Ballistic Tests of Armor Materials, May 2016.

Projectile velocity as well as incoming pitch and yaw will be measured in accordance with the procedures set forth in U.S. Army Test Operations Procedure 2-2-710A, Ballistic Tests of Armor Materials, May 2016.

Acceptance and rejection

The calculated Protection Ballistic Limit, V50BL(P), for each lot shall not exceed the maximum ballistic requirements specified for the represented lot to be acceptable. Failure of to meet this requirement shall constitute rejection of the entire lot which they represent. Unless otherwise specified, the ballistic tests shall be conducted and the test results accepted prior to shipment of the lot of penetrators represented by the test samples. Given that there is a thickness tolerance for the reference armor material wherein performance is a function of thickness, a range of maximum values must be available. To that end, the calculated ballistic limit for the candidate lot shall not exceed the maximum value presented in the table below.

Maximum Allowable Protection Ballistic

Limit for RHA Thickness

Thickness Maximum Lang Mod V50

(in) (mm) (m/s) (fps)

2.480 62.99 1155 3788

2.490 63.25 1158 3798

2.500 63.50 1162 3811

2.510 63.75 1165 3821

2.520 64.01 1168 3831

2.530 64.26 1172 3844

2.540 64.52 1175 3854

2.550 64.77 1178 3864

2.560 65.02 1182 3877

2.570 65.28 1185 3887

2.580 65.53 1189 3900

Test Sample Ownership Lot acceptance samples that satisfy all of the abovementioned requirements are considered to be part of the designated lot of penetrators that they represent, and ownership of them passes to the Government upon acceptance. Test samples that fail to satisfy any of the abovementioned requirements likewise considered to be part of the designated lot that they represent and remain the property of the supplier just as does the rejected lot they represent.

The Government inspector shall dispose of these test samples unless instructed otherwise by the procuring activity.

Delivery Schedule

1. The contractor shall provide a quantity of 50 finished items which are considered to be representative for each lot built to the Government for lot acceptance testing. These 50 finished items I would like to have by 5 August for Acceptance Testing.

2. The next lot of penetrators (min. 500) to be delivered to ATC before 29 August 2019. No less than 5,000 delivered before 30 September 2019.

3. The remainder of the 10,000 delivered by 31 December 2019.

Delivery Schedule

The main POC for this acquisition is

Delivery Address U.S. Army Aberdeen Test Center

ATTN: )

6850 Lanyard Road, Building 358 Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21005-5059