Air Combat Evolution (ACE) Full-Scale Aircraft TA-4

Background
The solicitation is for the Air Combat Evolution (ACE) program, which aims to convert existing F-16 aircraft into human-on-the-loop, safety-sandboxed testbed aircraft to support autonomy development and experimentation. The program is part of DARPA's Mosaic Warfare vision, which involves combined arms maneuver with manned and unmanned systems. The ACE program focuses on increasing trust in combat autonomy using human-machine collaborative dogfighting as its challenge problem.

Work Details
The technical objectives for Phase 2 and Phase 3 include developing full-scale aircraft experimentation platforms capable of implementing the ACE algorithms and technologies, modifying two F-16D aircraft to integrate WVR autonomy algorithms developed in TA1 and TA2, establishing human-on-the-loop experimentation infrastructure, and conducting flight test support of the converted aircraft. Additionally, there are options for converting F-16C aircraft into human-on-the-loop testbeds and integrating mission systems software.

Period of Performance
The Phase 2 base period is 15 months, while Phase 3 (Option 1) is also 15 months. The additional aircraft hardware option (Option 2) is notionally planned for 21 months. The solicitation posting date was February 1, 2022, with a proposal due date of March 18, 2022.

Place of Performance
The locations for flight test support are expected to be Edwards AFB, California or Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona.