Salient Characteristics Army Bloodlink.pdf

Salient Characteristics Document

Army Blood link (ABL): Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) for Blood Product Transport

1. General Information

Requiring Activity: XVIII Corps, Joint Operations Innovation Outpost (JIOP) ( Primary Point of Contact (POC): MAJ Mikel R. Hernandez, 419 Contracting Support Brigade CSPO (mikel.r.hernandeztrujillo.mil@army.mil / 910-396-1078) Secondary Point of Contact (POC): SSG Robert Torres (Robert.torres170.mil@army.mil / 520-718-3879)

2. Purpose & Scope

The purpose of this acquisition is to procure two (2) Unmanned Aerial Systems capable of transporting 20 units of the Government-designated blood product, including all approved primary, secondary, thermal-control, shock-protection, monitoring, and restraint packaging, with a minimum usable payload-compartment volume of 1.25 cubic feet and a minimum payload capacity of 35 pounds. The contractor shall provide a validated transport container that maintains the Government-specified product temperature range for the required mission duration and environmental conditions.

This requirement will be pursued using Other Transaction Authority (OTA) under Title 10, U.S.C., Section 4022 to develop prototypes at TRL 9. The resulting competitive award will allow our organization to issue follow-on production awards to the successful prototype developer, provided the prototypes are successfully completed and demand for this capability increases.

Due to the compressed timeline, we recommend focusing on further development and adaptation of existing commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) UAS solutions.

3. Mission Role and Employment

a. UAS shall be capable of transporting Government-designated blood products in contested/denied environments where ground transportation is not viable.

b. System shall support training missions 1–5 times per month and operational deployments with multiple missions per day.

4. Payload Capacity and Volume

a. UAS shall transport 20 units of Government-designated blood products, including all Government-approved primary, secondary, thermal-control, shock-protection, monitoring, and restraint packaging.

b. Minimum usable payload-compartment volume shall be 1.25 cubic feet.

c. Minimum payload capacity (including container and all packaging) shall be 35 lb.

d. System payload capacity range shall support at least 25 lb (min) to 50 lb (max) payloads.

5. Blood Transport Container and Thermal Control

a. Contractor shall provide a validated transport container compatible with the UAS payload bay that maintains the Government-specified blood product temperature range for the required mission duration and environmental conditions.

b. Container shall maintain required temperature for up to 3 hours of transport time, within an ambient environment of 15 °F to 120 °F with high humidity.

c. Container shall include appropriate thermal-control, shock-protection, monitoring, and restraint features for 20 blood units.

d. Container shall provide protection from rain, dust, sand, solar heating, and chemical contamination.

6. Blood Bag Accommodation

a. System shall accommodate blood bags with individual primary dimensions of:

i. 1 in thickness × 5.12 in width × 7.91 in length,

ii. plus at least 1 in clearance on all sides for packaging material and protective inserts.

b. Payload bay and container shall be configured to securely restrain 20 such units with the above clearances and protective materials.

7. Range, Endurance, and Mission Distance

a. UAS shall have a minimum one-way operational radius of 30 km with maximum combined fuel/energy and payload load.

b. UAS shall support a maximum mission distance of 100 km (total route distance, including outbound and return legs as applicable).

c. UAS shall provide 3–6 hours of operating time per mission, as required by the full route profile, without compromising payload thermal limits (i.e., blood transport time within container must remain ≤ 3 hours).

8. Response Time and Turnaround

a. System shall support a maximum 30-minute response time from mission request to launch under standard operating conditions.

b. System shall be designed for minimal servicing between sorties to enable multiple missions per day during deployment.

9. Operating Environment

a. UAS shall operate in ambient temperatures from 15 °F to 120 °F with high humidity.

b. UAS shall be capable of operation from ground level to a maximum operating altitude of 18,000 ft.

c. UAS shall remain controllable and capable of carrying 30 lb payload at the specified maximum temperature, altitude, and representative wind conditions stated by the Government (30 lb payload performance requirement at worst-case conditions).

10. Delivery Mode and Accuracy

a. UAS shall support precision delivery of the payload with a delivery-location accuracy of ≤ 10 m.

b. System shall support one or both of the following, as defined by mission

CONOPS:

i. Ground/landing delivery: landing or near-ground handoff within 10 m of target.

ii. Optional aerial drop: payload drop capability from 10–15 m above ground level with landing accuracy sufficient to remain within the 10 m delivery-location requirement and not damage the blood products or compromise container integrity.

11. Operations Day/Night and Signature

a. UAS shall support operations in both daytime and nighttime conditions.

b. No specific acoustic signature limit is required; however, acoustic output shall be low enough not to interfere with onboard communications or sensor performance.

12. Command, Control, and Communications

a. UAS shall provide a minimum communications range of 30 miles between the aircraft and its ground control station, consistent with the required mission distances and operational profiles.

b. System shall be controllable by a single operator; one operator must be able to control at least one aircraft at a time.

c. System architecture shall allow multiple aircraft to operate simultaneously in the same geographic area, with appropriate deconfliction via procedures or system features.

d. UAS shall be designed for minimal operator training, supporting effective operation by personnel with a short training course.

13. Autonomy, Navigation, and Detect-and-Avoid

a. Aircraft shall provide semi-autonomous flight capability, including autonomous waypoint navigation and return-to-base functions, under operator supervision.

b. UAS shall incorporate sensors and onboard logic to detect and avoid other aircraft and obstacles consistent with mission profiles and applicable U.S.

Army approval standards.

c. System shall be capable of safe operation in contested or denied environments, with appropriate resilience and fallback control modes as specified by the Government.

14. Human Factors and Training

a. Contractor shall provide an approved training program for operators, with total duration of approximately 1–3 days for basic operation, routine servicing, and field-level repair tasks.

b. System shall be designed for operation and servicing by typical medical brigade personnel with minimal technical background.

15. Maintainability, Reliability, and Service Life

a. UAS (aircraft, batteries/power systems, ground station, payload equipment) shall have an expected operational life of 500–1500 flight hours, dependent on mission profiles and maintenance practices.

b. System shall be designed for minimal servicing requirements, with routine servicing or scheduled maintenance intervals every 300–500 cycles/landings/missions.

c. UAS and associated payload container shall support field repair by unit personnel, to include line-replaceable units and modular components that can be replaced using common tools and minimal spares.

d. System shall achieve a minimum 90% probability of successful delivery per mission under specified operating conditions.

e. Contractor shall provide a system obsolescence and parts-availability plan to ensure continued support during the system’s intended service life.

f. At least one year warranty period is required by the Government.

16. System Composition and Physical Constraints

a. UAS system shall include aircraft, payload container, ground control station, communications equipment, and necessary support items sized for use and deployment by a medical brigade.

b. UAS physical configuration shall be compatible with medical unit deployment and storage constraints (e.g., capable of being transported and handled by medical personnel); overall packed dimensions and weight of the container/payload unit shall support carriage and loading by a small team of operators.

c. Maximum packed dimensions and weights shall remain consistent with:

i. The required blood bag plus 1 in packaging on all sides, multiplied by 20 units; and

ii. The specified payload capacity range of 25–50 lb.

17. Regulatory, Approval, and Origin Requirements

a. The U.S. Army Systems Readiness Directorate (SRD) is the approving/accepting authority for the system for flight; system design, documentation, and test evidence shall support SRD approval.

b. System shall not incorporate foreign-made components, foreign software, foreign cloud services, or foreign technical support where prohibited by the Government requirement; components and services must conform to applicable U.S. and DoD sourcing restrictions.

18. Scalability and Procurement

a. System design shall support procurement of 1–5 units as an initial or option quantity and be scalable to additional quantities as required by the Government.

These salient characteristics define the required performance, environmental, operational, and support attributes of a UAS suitable for a medical brigade blood-product transport mission, consistent with the provided Government requirements.

Meeting these salient characteristics within a 20% deviation from the stated parameters is acceptable. However, this is a competitive requirement with only one anticipated awardee, and all proposals will be evaluated in accordance with the evaluation criteria provided in the Request for Proposals (RFP) attachment.

The prototype, as well as any aspect or task of this prototype project, shall be deemed successful by the Agreements Officer’s Representative (AOR). With respect to the prototype, success is reached when the prototype can be successfully demonstrated in a fully operational testing environment, in which Key Performance Parameters (KPPs) and Key System Attributes (KSAs), as agreed upon during the System Requirement Review, can be measured and evaluated.