RFI BQM-34S Engine Replacement and Maintenance- Final.pdf

UNCLASSIFIED

DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY

NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND

PATUXENT RIVER, MD, 20670

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

RFI-N00019-242-25-075

BQM-34S Engine Replacement and Maintenance

26 August 2025

1.0 Description

1.1 The United States Navy (USN), in support of the Subsonic Aerial Target, BQM-34S, is seeking information from interested companies with the capability to deliver approximately 100-

150 turbojet engines. The engines are in support of a BQM-34S production restart which is slated for 2030 to bridge the gap to the next Full-Scale Aerial Target.

1.2 THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes; it does not constitute a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Further, the USN is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. Responders are advised that the U.S. 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 interested party’s expense. Not responding to this

RFI does not preclude participation in any future RFP, if any is issued. If a solicitation is released, it will be synopsized on the System for Award Management (SAM) website. It is the responsibility of the potential offerors to monitor these sites for additional information pertaining to this requirement.

2.0 Background

The USN is committed to advancing combat readiness by delivering next-generation threat representative targets like the BQM-34S that replicates the capabilities and behaviors of potential adversarial weapons ensuring that fleet training and testing takes place in realistic scenarios, both over land and sea.

The BQM-34S is a jet powered, high subsonic speed aerial target, capable of accommodating high performance payloads for threat emulation. The size, weight, and power (SWaP) of the

BQM-34S fulfills the rising demand to test new weapon systems against increasingly complex payloads designed to emulate airborne threat radars and jammers and electronic attack and electronic protection payload presentations.

The USN took final BQM-34S production deliveries in 1998. The BQM-34S production restart program will be based on the existing target design and will address obsolescence where required. The USN procurement quantity is 100 minimum, with additional other service agency procurements. The BQM-34S will bridge the gap for full scale aerial targets until the replacement is fielded.

2.1 Planned Production: Production of the BQM-34S target to begin no earlier than 2030.

2.2 Delivery Period: Delivery of the BQM-34S target is to begin no earlier than 2031 and continue at a rate of ~25 targets per year until all targets are delivered.

2.3 US-Only Manufacturing: Buy American Act provisions will apply for this program.

3.0 Requested Information

3.1 The USN is seeking companies that have the capability to deliver approximately 100-150 turbojet engines for the BQM-34S production program. The engines must be developed, qualified, and/or have a certified overhaul procedure by 2029 to support target qualification.

Interested parties are requested to respond to this RFI with a Statement of Capabilities addressing the following questions:

3.2 Regarding Engine Development and Production:

High-level engine design requirements: Prospective replacement engines would have to produce a minimum of 2850 ibf (lnlet Barrier Filter) continuous Sea Level Static (SLS) thrust for a platform flying at high subsonic speeds from altitudes of 10 ft. Above Ground Level (AGL) up to 45,000 ft.

Mean Sea Level (MSL). The entire propulsion system must fit into a cylindrical cavity roughly

40” long and 22” in diameter. The BQM-34S will be exposed to open oceans and land recoveries and decontaminated prior to re-use. The proposed engine can be a modification of an existing design or clean sheet so long as the development cycle meets the above stated schedule objectives.

Required auxiliary systems shall be addressed as part of this RFI. Auxiliary systems should include power generation (approximately 300A), engine and fuel controls, gearbox, lubricant and any other subsystems required for BQM-34S integration.

3.2.1 What candidate engine(s) are you considering offering?

3.2.2 What % of your candidate engine(s) is commercial?

3.2.3 What applications are currently flying/operating this engine?

3.2.4 What (if any) additional development does this engine(s) require?

3.2.5 What stage of “new” development is your candidate engine(s) at today?

3.2.6 What is the current technology readiness level(s) for any new systems/technologies, and how much development do you anticipate is required in order for these systems/technologies to be made fully operational?

3.2.7 What level of technical details of the design can be shared? Maximum SLS thrust, maximum thrust at service ceiling, Specific Fuel Consumption (SFC) at various conditions, airflow, electrical power generation, dimensions, etc.? Has a cycle model been developed and is it shareable?

3.2.8 What is the manufacturing readiness level for this engine? Are there any currently known material availability issues? Does the engine design use modern

(tool-less, reconfigurable tooling, or additive manufacturing) production methods that would facilitate improved long-term on- demand production of spares?

Would that intellectual property be available to the Government for long-term on-demand production of spares?

3.2.9 Does the engine require any special tooling or any support equipment? Are any special tooling and support equipment available or will there be a need to develop and procure them? Are there sub-contractors, suppliers, and/or vendors able to support special tooling or support equipment? What is the timeline and cost for development and validation of special tooling and support equipment?

What facilities are there for maintenance and overhaul of special tooling and support equipment? Will there be any field support for support equipment? Will the government be granted access to the technical data packages (TDP) in terms of hardware and software?

Will there be a need to provide government-furnished property or government-furnished information to support this effort?

3.2.10 Where do you intend to build your candidate engine? What is your production facility status? How long will it take you to stand up production capability? Are you able to initiate production in time to support deliveries starting in 2030?

What are your current and projected production capabilities and delivery rates? Is there a minimum production rate (quantity per year) that you would need to realize in order to consider competing for this requirement; if so, what is it?

What is your target unit cost for the engine?

3.3 Engine Repair and Overhaul

3.3.1 Is there a Repair and Overhaul capability within your facility? What type-model-series engines are worked on at these locations? What are the minimum and maximum scopes of work performed, i.e. minor parts replacements, complete engine teardowns and rebuilds, part sourcing, engine acceptance test, etc.?

3.3.2 Would your organization be able to take on repair and overhaul of the proposed engine design? Would facility expansion be required? Would additional technician talent need to be hired? How would relationships with part suppliers be established?

Is engineering support available to assist with developing new work instructions?

3.4 Security

Is your facility able to handle and store classified information up to and including Secret material?

4.0 Responses

4.1 Interested parties are requested to respond to this RFI with a white paper.

4.2 White papers in Microsoft Word or .pdf compatible format are due no later than

02 December 2025, 17:00 EDT. Responses shall be submitted via e-mail only to marinanne.g.wild.civ@us.navy.mil. Proprietary information, if any, should be minimized and

MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED. To aid the Government, please segregate proprietary information. Please be advised that all submissions become Government property and will not be returned. If any responder does not currently have a Proprietary Data Protection Agreement

(PDPA) that would permit the support contractors listed below to review and evaluate white papers submitted in response to this RFI, the responder is requested to sign PDPAs with these

USN support contractors for this purpose. Results will be reviewed and retained by the government and Government support contractors. Solicitation does not obligate the government to issue an RFP or award a contract. Responses must be at the responder’s expense. The following is a list of support contractor companies who will review the responses.

• Tekla

4.3 Section 1 of the white paper shall provide administrative information, and shall include the following as a minimum:

4.3.1 Name, mailing address, overnight delivery address (if different from mailing address), phone number, fax number, and e-mail of designated point of contact.

4.3.2 Recommended contracting strategy.

4.3.3 Either 1) copies of executed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with the contractors supporting USN and USN supported PEOs and PMs in technical evaluations (listed in 4.2 above), or 2) a statement that the responder will not allow the Government to release its proprietary data to the Government support contractors. In the absence of either of the foregoing, the Government will assume that the responder does NOT agree to the release of its submission to Government support contractors.

4.3.4 Business type (large business, small business, small disadvantaged business, 8(a)-certified small disadvantaged business, HUBZone small business, woman-owned small business, very small business, veteran-owned small business, service-disabled veteran-owned small business) based upon North American Industry Classification System

(NAICS) code 336419 Other Guided Missile and Space Vehicle Parts Auxiliary

Equipment Manufacturing. “Small business concern” means a concern, including its affiliates, which is independently owned and operated, not dominant in the field of operation in which it is bidding on Government contracts and qualified as a small business under the criteria and size standards in 13 CFR part 121. Please refer to Federal

Acquisition Regulation FAR 19 for detailed information on Small Business Size

Standards. The FAR is available at http://www.arnet.gov. including

4.3.5 The facility security clearance of the offeror.

The number of pages in Section 1 of the white paper shall not be included in the 50-page limitation, which applies only to Section 2 of the white paper.

4.4 Section 2 of the white paper shall answer the issues addressed in Section 3 of this RFI and shall be limited to 50 pages of text (excluding pictures and graphs).

5.0 Industry Discussions

PMA-208, BQM-34S Program Office representatives may or may not choose to meet with potential offerors. Such discussions would only be intended to get further clarification of potential capability to meet the requirements, especially any development and certification risks.

6.0 Questions

Questions regarding this announcement shall be submitted in writing by e-mail to the Contracting

Officer marinanne.g.wild.civ@us.navy.mil. Verbal questions will NOT be accepted. Questions will be answered by posting answers to the www.beta.sam.gov website; accordingly, questions shall NOT contain proprietary or classified information. The Government does not guarantee that questions received after 02 December 2025 will be answered. To access the website, go to www.beta.sam.gov. Interested parties are invited to subscribe to the website to ensure they receive any important information updates connected with this RFI.

http://www.arnet.gov/far/current/html/FARTOCP19.html http://www.arnet.gov/ http://www.beta.sam.gov/ http://www.beta.sam.gov/

7.0 Summary

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY to identify sources that can provide turbojet engines for the BQM-34S. The information provided in the RFI is subject to change and is not binding on the Government. The USN has not made a commitment to procure any of the items discussed, and release of this RFI should not be construed as such a commitment or as authorization to incur cost for which reimbursement would be required or sought. All submissions become Government property and will not be returned.