Electronic Warfare Test (EWT) Prototype Projects Topic: Electronic Warfare (EW) Testing at Military Laboratories (MORALES)

On 07 September 2023, in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 4022, the Army Contracting Command Orlando has awarded an Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) via the Training and Readiness Accelerator II (TReX II) for the Electronic Warfare (EW) Testing at Military Laboratories - Modular Open-systems Reconfigurable Architecture for Laboratory-based Electronic-warfare co-emulationS (MORALES) Prototype Project.

A Request for Solutions for these efforts was issued to the Training and Readiness Accelerator (TReX) I consortium on 17 February 2022, which resulted in the submittal of 3 total responses. As a result of the competition, the prototype project was awarded under the TReX II Other Transation Agreement to Advanced Technology International, Inc. (ATI) as the Consortium Management Firm to XL Scientific, LLC dba Verus Research) located in Albuquerque, NM. The total value of this prototype project, if all milestones and options are exercised, is $17,797,104.00.

The Department of Defense (DoD) Test Resources Management Center (TRMC) Test and Evaluation (T&E)/Science and Technology (S&T) Program desires to invest in innovative technologies that revolutionize or accelerate testing capabilities and development of T&E. The purpose for Mitigating 5G Impact on Electronic Warfare (EW) Testing at Military Laboratories effort is to provide alternative testing functions from those currently used for Military open-air testing that are/will be impacted by of the loss of frequencies, specifically but not limited to 5G frequencies. The requested technologies are intended for use in secure EW laboratories to mitigate that impact. The U.S. Government sell-off of the 5G frequencies used to support EW operations on U.S. ranges engaging in EW activities is a concern because our adversaries choose the frequencies of operation. Military EW laboratories consist of Installed System Test Facilities (ISTFs) which conduct free space radiation of the System Under Test (SUT) and Hardware In The Loop (HITL) laboratories which perform direct inject radio frequency (RF) testing for the EW equipment. Both of these methods also use modeling and simulation (M&S) capabilities for representing the subsystems and elements needed due to the inability to operate in open air. These M&S functions include atmospheric models, antenna models, etc.

TRMC's overarching strategy is to Mitigate 5G Impact on Electronic Warfare (EW) Testing at Military Laboratories capabilities through an iterative technology research and demonstration approach, utilizing Other Transactions Authority (OTA) this prototype project is directly relevant to enhancing the mission effectiveness of the TRMC community.

The prototype development activity should include the following component activities/objectives to comprehensively address the currently perceived problem space:

• Identify and address requisite prototype technologies for secure laboratories capabilities that replace open air T&E systems lost by frequency sell-offs, including 5G for both radio frequency (RF) open- and closed-loop as well as M&S capabilities. This includes relevant M&S capabilities that, for example, may involve the use of an RF propagation model for 5G frequencies (initially for current 5G frequencies but potentially for future assignments). Prediction tools should address test planning and post-test event analysis.
• Identify and address RF threat representation test technology capabilities for use in secure laboratory environments to reduce dependency on electronic attack open-air testing requirements.
• Identify and address needed digital-to-RF environment technology-based conversion capabilities for Red/Blue interactions on relevant frequencies with the inclusion of M&S tools for multiple participant scenarios in congested and contested environments expected within Multi-Domain Operations T&E use case scenarios.
• Identify and address compatible technology-based direct RF injection mechanisms that provides sufficient isolation and phase stability to provide coherent beam stimulation of the SUT high-power array. Both physical interface and real-time digital instrumentation and stimulation are required.
  

Upon successful completion of this prototype effort, the Government anticipates that a follow-on production effort may be awarded via either contract or transaction, without the use of competitive procedures if the participants in this transaction successfully complete the prototype project as awarded. Successful completion will occur when the prototypes have been validated and are accepted by the Government. Further, the government reserves the right to determine part, or all of the prototype project is successfully completed if the vendor shows a particularly favorable or unexpected result justifying the transition to production.

Note: Should the selected vendors fail to demonstrate progress or be unsuccessful in the accomplishment of the goals of this prototyping effort, the Government reserves the right to return to the results of this competition and award additional Other Transaction Agreements to one or more of the vendors that responded to the initial Request for Solutions, as appropriate within the scope and evaluated results of the competition.