Common Armament Tester - Fighter (CAT-F)

12 DEC 22: NOTICE
The 12 NOV 2022 posting was ONLY to distribute the Robins Contracting Outreach briefing charts that briefed three (3) Automatic Test Division acquisition efforts. The efforts briefed were:
Aircraft Smart Weapons Test Set (ASWTS)
Automatic Test Systems Acquisition (ATSA) - I
Common Armament Tester - Fighter (CAT-F)
There should not been a response date revision posted with the 12 NOV 2022 notice. The response date has been returned to the original response date for all three (3) efforts. There is no requirement to submit responses or update previously submitted responses on any of the 3 (three) postings.

23 NOV 22: POSTED: ATS-Robins Contracting Industry Outreach (IOE) briefing charts. Robins Contracting Industry Outreach held on 1 NOV 22.

3 MAY 21: SOURCES SOUGHT POSTED: The Government is conducting market research to identify potential sources that possess products and innovative technological solutions that could influence the design and development of a common fighter armament tester, which is platform agnostic to replace the 15 types of existing armament testers currently used to support multiple fighter aircraft. The intent of this RFI is to allow potential sources across industry to respond under minimum constraints and offer creative, leading edge solutions that enable the Government to leverage the best Organizational-Level testing capabilities possible.

The Department of Defense continues to pursue operations that are increasingly dependent on speed, flexibility, and agility. In like manner, the Air Force is pursuing systems that support and enhance agile combat employment, which calls for the ability to launch, recover and maintain aircraft away from main air bases and potentially at host nations' military airfields or civilian airports. This in turn drives the need for a smaller logistics footprint at these potential locations.

Present and future Air Force warfighting environments require fighter armament testing capabilities that possess maximum agility to enable effective mission operations in garrison and in forward locations. The current family of fighter armament testers supports F-15, F-16, F-22, F-35, A-10 and MQ-9 aircraft. This effort will only address F-15/F-16 aircraft with the intent to become a common armament tester for all fighters mentioned above. To realize the Air Force's vision for agile combat employment, the Air Force requires a more agile family of fighter armament testers that covers all armament currently employed on the above mentioned fighters, while ensuring there are no gaps in capability. Specific requirements are being developed and will be provided to industry when completed.

The Air Force currently uses 15 types of separate fighter armament testers. These testers perform fault isolation, operational, functional, troubleshooting, and diagnostic testing on aircraft armament systems.

The following guidelines are provided to frame the CAT-F challenge for F-15/F-16 aircraft:

• Ability to be nuclear certified IAW AFI 63-125, Nuclear Certification Program
• Designed with maximum use of commercial off the shelf (COTS) or modified off the shelf (MOTS) components
• Designed to operate in the harsh Flight-line environment
• Designed to be cybersecure while being operated and maintained
• Designed with maximum modularity and a modular open systems architecture (MOSA)
• Designed to be deployable to support expeditionary operations at forward operating locations
• Transportable to be moved from one location to another via common military cargo aircraft with as minimal a logistics footprint as attainable
• Ability to operate without extensive supply chain
• Ability to design a prototype complete for sell-off within 26 months ARO
• Ability to set up a production-line to produce an average of seven testers each month for a total of 526 testers
• Capable of integrating into the Flight-Line of the future tester, evolved with conditioned based maintenance (CBT), wireless capability, connecting to USAF Maintenance servers and cyber hardening

Security classification: Security classification for this potential effort will be at the Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) level. Information involved in this program will be subject to Export Control (International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR) 22 CFR 120-131, or Export Administration Regulations (EAR) 15 CFR 710-774).
Respondents can devise their own solution approaches and system architecture(s) as long as the Government can obtain at least Government purpose data rights for the implemented architecture and that architecture complies with the other requirements of any associated development program(s).

CAT-F Contractor Capability Survey provided as an attachment to this announcement.
Contractors/institutions responding to this market research are placed on notice that responding may not ensure participation in future solicitations or contract awards. This Request for Information (RFI) is issued for information and planning purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation. Responses to the RFI will not be returned. Responders are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. The Government will not reimburse participants for any expenses associated with their participation in this survey.