Pre-Solicitation__Forward_Based_Mode_(FBM)_Radar_Next_Prototypes_Post_10Aug26_FINAL.pdf

**PRE-SOLICITATION NOTICE**

Forward Based Mode (FBM) Radar Next Prototypes

1. PURPOSE AND AUTHORITY

This pre-solicitation notice is posted to publicize the Missile Defense Agency’s, Mobile Land-Based Sensors Project Office, intent to seek innovative prototype concepts for the Forward Based Mode (FBM) Radar Next. This effort is anticipated to be conducted under the NOBLE Other Transaction Authority (OTA) for Prototype Projects, pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 4022, to rapidly develop, demonstrate, and evaluate radar prototypes capable of providing advanced early warning, tracking, and discrimination of emerging missile threats.

The primary objective of this effort will be to prototype a highly mobile, rapidly deployable sensor system that enhances the integrated missile defense architecture against complex, high-speed, and maneuverable threats (including ballistic, cruise, and hypersonic missiles).

The Government anticipates that this prototype Other Transaction (OT) agreement may lead to a subsequent, non-competitive follow-on production contract or transaction. All interested parties are advised that only the participant(s) who successfully complete the prototype project awarded under this solicitation will be eligible for a potential sole-source award of the follow-on production effort.

Offerors will be required to possess or obtain a Facility Security Clearance (FCL) through the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) prior to starting Cycle 1, Concept Development. DD Forms 254 authorizing classified work will be issued to each Offeror no later than the beginning of Cycle 1.

2. BACKGROUND AND THREAT ENVIRONMENT

As adversarial missile capabilities become increasingly sophisticated, the need for agile, survivable, and highly precise forward-based sensors has never been greater.

Current static or semi-mobile radars are vulnerable to counterattacks and lack the rapid relocation capabilities necessary for modern distributed operations. FBM Radar Next will close this gap by providing a system that can be quickly transported, set up, and operated in austere forward locations while maintaining interoperability with existing Command and Control, Battle Management, and Communications (C2BMC) networks.

3. TECHNICAL OBJECTIVES AND PROTOTYPE REQUIREMENTS

Prototype solutions are expected to address the following key performance and operational characteristics:

• Mobility and Transportability: The system must be capable of rapid deployment and transport via C-17 military airlift and tactical ground vehicles.

• Rapid Emplacement and Displacement: The radar must demonstrate rapid setup and teardown times (e.g., operational within specified hours of arrival, and tear down within minutes to maximize survivability).

• Advanced Threat Detection & Tracking: High-sensitivity detection, persistent tracking, and precise discrimination of advanced threats in high-clutter and contested electromagnetic environments.

• Remote Operations: The design must support remote operations, command and control integration, and automated system health monitoring. Minimizing the onsite operator footprint is critical to improving personnel safety and increasing overall tactical flexibility.

• Flexible Aperture Configuration: The radar system must support versatile deployment architectures, with the capability to operate either as a highly integrated single aperture or as multiple distributed arrays to optimize geographical coverage, sensitivity, survivability, or electronic protection.

• Open Systems Architecture (OSA): Utilizing modular, open-system design principles to allow for rapid hardware upgrades and software deployment.

• Interoperability: Seamless integration with the Command and Control, Battle Management, and Communications (C2BMC) system.

• Survivability: Engineered physical, thermal, and electromagnetic signatures to ensure platform survivability in contested environments.

• Producibility and Affordability: The system design must prioritize manufacturing ease, design-for-manufacturing-and-assembly (DFMA) principles, and cost-efficiency. It is critical that the prototype demonstrates a viable pathway to rapid, high-volume production at an affordable unit cost. This ensures the capability to quickly scale production and cost-effectively replace radar units in highly active forward-deployed environments.

4. PROTOTYPE PHASES AND DOWN-SELECT PROCESS

This prototyping effort will follow a phased approach designed to mature technology, manage risk, and foster competition. To protect government investment and maintain schedule momentum, only vendors with demonstrated hardware maturity will be permitted to enter the prototyping pipeline.

As part of the pending Solicitation the Government intends to evaluate developer performance at each gate to execute competitive "down-select" decisions. Continued participation in subsequent cycles will be contingent upon passing the formal review gate of the preceding phase.

Entry Gate: Basic Radar Building Block Validation (Prerequisite to Cycle 1)

Before entering the formal prototyping phases, all Offerors must successfully clear this Entry Gate. The goal is to filter out speculative, paper-only designs and ensure that selected vendors possess hardware technology mature enough to immediately start prototype development.

• Requirements: Offerors must demonstrate at least a completely documented (a.k.a. “paper”) subarray design as a radar building block and complete hardware design at the array element level. This includes providing empirical measurement data at the element, element level building block, and channel level on the signal path (e.g., transceiver element performance, phase/amplitude control, and signal path continuity).

• Evaluation: Submissions relying solely on theoretical designs, software-only simulations without hardware roots, or unvalidated element-level components will not pass the Entry Gate and will not be selected for Cycle 1 funding.

Cycle 1: Concept Development

• Duration: TBD Months

• Focus: Initial development of innovative system concepts, high-level architecture designs, and performance projections.

• Gate 1 Evaluation: Assessment of conceptual feasibility, architectural alignment with FBM Radar Next requirements, and technical risk identification.

Cycle 2: Technology and Manufacturing Readiness (TMR) & Extensibility

• Duration: TBD Months

• Focus: Demonstration of Technology and Manufacturing Readiness levels for critical sub-components. Additionally, performers must demonstrate a viable, concrete engineering path showing how the prototype design can be evolved to seamlessly incorporate advanced concepts as new technology matures over time.

• Gate 2 Evaluation: Evaluation of hardware/software readiness levels, manufacturing feasibility plans, and the flexibility of the proposed Open Systems Architecture to absorb future technology upgrades.

Cycle 3: Subscale Prototype & Modeling and Simulation (M&S)

• Duration: TBD Months

• Focus: Development of the initial prototype hardware at a subscale level (e.g., a pilot array) combined with rigorous M&S. Performers will demonstrate the performance capability of their objective (full-scale) radar design using high-fidelity simulations validated by the subscale hardware testing.

• Gate 3 Evaluation: Assessment of subscale hardware performance, the accuracy and validation of the M&S environment, and readiness to transition to full-scale fabrication.

Cycle 4: Full-Scale Prototype Development & Demonstration

• Duration: TBD Months

• Focus: Completion of fabrication and comprehensive operational demonstration of the full-scale prototype(s).

• Gate 4 Evaluation: Final performance verification, environmental and mobility testing, and assessment of the prototype's operational utility.

5. ANTICIPATED EVALUATION CRITERIA

Initial submissions to the formal Solicitation, when released, and subsequent phase transitions will be evaluated based on the following anticipated evaluation criteria, listed in descending order of importance:

1. Technical Merit and Innovation: The degree to which the proposed concept meets or exceeds capability requirements and introduces innovative solutions.

2. Operational Feasibility: The viability of the proposed mobility (C-17 compatibility), setup/teardown, and tactical deployment approaches.

3. Schedule Viability: The realism of the timeline to hit the milestones and review gates across the four prototyping cycles.

4. Producibility, Affordability, and Cost Realism: The viability and scalability of the manufacturing approach, the potential to meet target unit-cost thresholds for rapid attrition replacement, and the realism of the Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) cost estimates relative to the technical complexity of each phase.

**This is not a request for proposal. This notice of Pre-Solicitation does not constitute a solicitation, nor does it constitute a request for proposal, or OT Prototype Proposal. The government is not currently requesting or accepting inquiries or feedback in response to this notice.**

5. ANTICIPATED EVALUATION CRITERIA