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COMMERCE BUSINESS DAILY ISSUE OF FEBRUARY 5,1998 PSA#2026Munitions Contracting Division (AFRL/MNK), Building 13, 101 West Eglin
Boulevard, Suite 337, Eglin AFB, FL 32542-6810 A -- ARMAMENT TECHNOLOGIES (PART 1 OF 2) SOL BAA No. MNK-98-0001 POC
Contact Jean M. Pulley, Contracting Officer, (850) 882-4294, ext 3402
The Munitions Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory, Eglin
AFB FL is interested in receiving research proposals in the areas of:
High Surface Area Electrodes, Doped Nanoparticulate Silicon Electronic
Device Research, Flight Vehicles Integration, Autonomous Target
Recognition, Biomimetic Signal Processing and Control,
Hardware-in-the-Loop Technology, Navigation and Control, Facility
Denial, Weapon Design and Analysis Methodology, Laser Radar and
Components. Proposals should describe scientific study and
experimentation to increase knowledge and understanding in these areas.
This Broad Agency Announcement consists of three parts: PART I --
Research Interests, PART II -- Proposal Evaluation and PART III --
Proposal Preparation. The cost of preparing proposals in response to
this announcement is not considered an allowable direct charge to any
resulting contract or any other contract. It is, however, an allowable
expense to the normal bid and proposal indirect cost specified in FAR
31.205-18. Companies responding to this announcement are cautioned
that only a Contracting Officer may obligate the Government to any
agreement involving expenditure of Government funds. This Broad Agency
Announcement (BAA) constitutes a solicitation for proposals under the
provisions of PL 98-369, the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984.
The BAA describes research requirements and methods for preparing and
submitting proposals. PART I -- RESEARCH INTERESTS A. INTRODUCTION This
is the Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) of the Air Force Research
Laboratory Munitions Directorate (AFRL/MN) under the provisions of
paragraph 6.102(d)(2) of the Federal Acquisition Regulation which
provides for the competitive selection of research proposals. Proposals
submitted in response to the BAA that are selected for award are
considered to be the results of full and open competition and in full
compliance with the provisions of PL 98-369, the Competition in
Contracting Act of 1984. For purposes of this announcement, research is
defined to be scientific study and experimentation directed at
increasing knowledge and understanding in relation to long term
national security needs. It is an enhancement to related exploratory
and advanced development programs. AFRL/MN contracts with educational
institutions, non-profit organizations, and private industry for
research in armament technology. This BAA is intended to cover, in
general nature, all research areas of interest to this Directorate.
Persons contemplating submission of a proposal to AFRL/MN should not
only carefully examine this BAA, but are also strongly encouraged to
contact the appropriate AFRL/MN scientist identified in this
publication to ascertain the extent of interest which AFRL/MN may have
in a specific research project. Proposals may be submitted at any time
during the period the BAA is open. However, prior to submitting a
formal proposal, offerors are required to submit a two to three page
white paper on their proposed research topic to key AFRL/MN staff
members who have been identified and contacted for each area of
interest. The purpose of the white paper is to preclude unwarranted
effort on the part of an offeror whose proposed work is not of interest
under this BAA. Those offerors submitting white papers found to be
consistent with the intent of this BAA will be invited to submit a
proposal. Such invitation does not assure that the submitting
organization will be awarded a subsequent contract or assistance
instruments (grant, cooperative agreement, or other transaction).
Proposals submitted may be evaluated as they are received. A contract
or assistance instrument could be awarded as a result of this BAA, as
appropriate. We expect most awards with universities and non-profit
organizations to be grants. Note that there is no inherent funding
associated with this BAA, and any contract/assistance instrument will
depend on availability of funds from other sources. Our goal is to
award ten percent (10%) of the contracts to Historically Black Colleges
and Universities (HBCUs), and thirty percent (30%) to small businesses,
which includes ten percent (10%) to Small Disadvantaged Businesses
(SDBs) and Woman-Owned Small Businesses (WOSB), over the life of the
BAA. The SIC code for this BAA is 8731 with a Small Business size
standard not to exceed 500 employees. In the event sufficient
acceptable proposals are not received to fulfill these goals, awards
will be made to those proposals received which are acceptable
regardless of source. In addition to the general technical and
contracting goals mentioned in this BAA, there are two additional items
of special emphasis: a. AFRL/MN plans to seek out and award ideas and
proposals that have potential for shifting current paradigms. We are
seeking ideas that will lead to more significant changes to the way we
do business. We strongly encourage "thinking out of the box" and
beyond the scope of present commercialization. An example of what we
are looking for is: It usually takes 5 bolts to put a widget together.
If you use 2 bolts to put it together you are innovative, but if you
put it together using no bolts, then you are revolutionary you are
using a new dimension in technology. b. Many of the areas of technology
under investigation have commercial potential, the exploitation of
which could lead to improved military performance in terms of:
significant increases in the affordability of military systems; the
elimination of health, safety, and environmental hazards in
manufacturing processes; the availability of commercial off-the-shelf
items for use in military systems; or application of critical
technologies from the federal laboratories, universities, or non-profit
institutions. The Munitions Directorate is also desirous of receiving
cost shared proposals in support of dual use applications. This BAA
will remain open for one year from date of publication. It will be
reissued annually and may be amended at any time. The descriptions of
the technical areas are organized by scientific discipline, and the
reader will note some overlap between sections. To contact a AFRL/MN
staff member by mail, include branch or division symbol and write: Air
Force Research Laboratory Munitions Directorate, 101 W. Eglin Blvd.,
Eglin AFB FL 32542. B. MISSION The Munitions Directorate of the Air
Force Research Laboratory is the primary Air Force organization
concerned with conventional munitions. The Munitions Directorate plans
and executes research, development, and test of conventional
munitions, and supports conventional munition System Program Offices.
There are three divisions within the Munitions Directorate which
conduct research and development. They are the Assessment and
Integration Division, the Ordnance Division, and the Advanced Guidance
Division. ASSESSMENT AND INTEGRATION DIVISION (MNA) The Assessment and
Integration Division is responsible for assessment of lethality,
effectiveness, and utility of weapon technologies, and evaluation of
expected weapon performance by simulation. The Division directs and
conducts research and exploratory and advanced development in
weapon/missile airframes, submunition dispensing, and weapon carriage
and release concepts. The division also integrates optimal subsystems,
performs tests, and conducts flight demonstrations. MNA maintains
in-house facilities and capabilities in the areas of aeroballistics,
weaponry aerodynamic performance analysis, and mechanical integration.
The Division consists of the Computational Mechanics Branch (MNAC),
the Lethality and Vulnerability Branch (MNAL), and the Flight Vehicles
Integration Branch (MNAV). ADVANCED GUIDANCE DIVISION (MNG) The
Advanced Guidance Division conducts research and directs exploratory
and advanced development in electrooptical, millimeter-wave, and
radio-frequency seekers for air-to-air and air-to-surface conventional
weapons and submunition guidance. The Division performs laboratory,
field, and captive flight tests of seeker concepts. The Division also
operates and maintains a hardware-in-the-loop seeker evaluation
facility, an image processing laboratory, a radio-frequency signal
processing laboratory, a laser radar facility, and an electrooptics
laboratory. The Division consists of the Seeker Image and Signal
Processing Branch (MNGI), the Guidance Simulation Branch (MNGG), the
Navigation and Control Branch (MNGN), and the Seeker Branch (MNGS).
ORDNANCE DIVISION (MNM) The Ordnance Division directs and conducts
research and exploratory and advanced development of fuzes, warheads,
bombs, submunitions, ammunition, aircraft guns, feed systems, and
explosives. Air launched munitions should consider fighter, bomber, and
UAV aircraft as the launch platforms. MNM operates high-explosives R&D
facilities that support munitions programs. MNM also provides
technical evaluation and consulting services to other government
agencies and industries concerned with munitions technology. MNM
consists of the Energetic Materials Branch (MNME), the Fuzes Branch
(MNMF), the Ordnance Integration Branch (MNMI), and the Damage
Mechanisms Branch (MNMW). C. RESEARCH REQUIREMENTS -- To support the
missions of AFRL/MN, research is required in the areas described in
this section. These descriptions are not meant to exclude other
research topics which are consistent with the mission of the Munitions
Directorate and its Divisions. These descriptions furnish specific
examples of areas of interest and Directorate focal points associated
with these technology areas. FLIGHT VEHICLES INTEGRATION RESEARCH --
The goal of this work is to perform flight vehicles integration
research in the areas of: weapon airframe design, alternate flight
control, aerodynamics of high angle-of-attack missile and
air-to-surface weapon airframes, rapid response weapon concepts for use
on time-critical targets, submunition design and dispensing technology,
uninhabited combat air vehicle (UCAV) weapon integration, compressed
carriage missile design, including new concepts for reliable fin/wing
fold mechanisms, new aircraft/weapon integration concepts to reduce
drag and radar signature when carrying advanced and inventory stores,
and advanced carriage and release equipment design for application to
both internal and external carriage, especially as applied to small
size and weight munitions on high speed advanced aircraft. Research
interests also include interdisciplinary high fidelity modeling of
coupled aerodynamic, structural, thermal, electromagnetic, and flight
control aspects of weapon flight vehicles, and in particular, high
fidelity modeling of the effective compromise of combined aerodynamic
and electromagnetic performance requirements and goals on airframe
design. Also of interest is the active and passive control of air
vehicles through the use of micro technologies such as
microelectromechanical (MEMS) systems, micro blowing, synthetic jets,
etc. Dr. Anders J. Sullivan, AFRL/MNAV, 850-882-8876 ext 3370, Fax:
850-882-2201, email: sullivan@eglin.af.mil BIOMIMETIC SIGNAL PROCESSING
AND CONTROL -- Both biological systems and smart munitions are required
to collect space, time, and color information from the environment,
process it, and make some decision. The decision may be that of
detecting, recognizing, tracking, or intercepting an object. The
decision may also be that of changing position or direction of motion
for vehicle navigation or for better viewing of a target. A clear
understanding of how the natural systems collect and process
information to make these kinds of decisions may lead to revolutionary
seeker concepts for autonomous weapons, as well as other machine
vision applications. Therefore the Seeker Image and Signal Processing
Branch has interest in signal processing and control methods that use
natural concepts found in biological systems. Our focus in biomimetics
(the science of mimicking biological systems) is on leveraging efforts
previously aimed at understanding how life forms collect and process
environmental information. We want to use what is understood about the
natural seekers to build small and affordable autonomous munition
seekers. As biologically inspired seeker system concepts mature and
exploit commercially available technology, the resemblance to the
original biological system may diminish or even disappear. This
consequence reflects our focus on building affordable, capable seekers
for smart munitions. Proposed concepts should support the general
objectives of the Munitions Directorate and Advanced Guidance Division
mission statements as well as the munition product systems described
in the current Conventional Armament Technology Area Plan. These
information items are available on our home page. Dr. Geoffrey Brooks,
AFRL/MNGI, 850-882-3910 ext 2221, Fax: 850-882-3344, e-mail:
brooksg@eglin.af.mil AUTONOMOUS TARGET RECOGNITION -- The Seeker Image
and Signal Processing Branch (MNGI) is interested in investigating all
aspects of Autonomous Target Recognition (ATR) technology as it applies
to seekers for conventional guided weapons. Interests range from basic
signal/image processing foundations through tower and flight test of
advanced real time ATR/host signal processor implementations. ATR
systems (and related technologies) designed for use with all relevant
weapon system sensors (MMW Radar, SAR, IIR, LADAR, Dual Mode
combinations, etc.) are of interest. Dr. Thomas E. Davis, AFRL/MNGI,
850-882-3910 ext 2360, Fax: 850-882-3344 HARDWARE-IN-THE-LOOP REAL-TIME
TESTING TECHNOLOGIES -- The Guidance Simulation Branch (MNGG) is
interested in investigating technologies related to the testing of
missile designs that incorporate imaging infrared and LADAR seeker
subsystems. MNGG exercises complete missile hardware-in-the-loop
simulations to verify the signal processing, image processing, and
guidance performance including terminal homing accuracy. Strategic and
Theater Missile Defense concepts developed under the Ballistic Missile
Defense Organization (BMDO) as well as Tactical Munition subsystems
developed within WL/MN are tested. Research emphasis will be placed on
advancement of infrared scene projection technologies, real-time
target scene generation techniques, and high bandwidth motion
simulators as they apply to the test of imaging infrared and LADAR
sensors. Mr. Tony Thompson, AFRL/MNGG, 850-882-4446 ext 2273, Fax:
850-882-2363, e-mail: thompsra@eglin.af.mil LASER RADAR COMPONENT
RESEARCH -- The Advanced Guidance Division has an interest in
developing the components and systems necessary for imaging and
non-imaging laser radar systems. These include, but are not limited to,
optical sources, detector systems, beam pointing and beam scanning
systems, detection schemes, and discrimination, ranging, and
acquisition systems. Interests range from complete systems and devices
to basic materials and components. These include the following: a.
Optical Sources. Optical sources of various wavelengths from the
visible to the mid-infrared (< 5 microns) are desired. These devices
may be diodes, diode-pumped solid state lasers, or optical parametric
oscillators (OPOs). The systems can operate at moderate output powers
in either a continuous wave mode or a pulsed mode at pulse repetition
rates ranging from a few Hz to greater than 1 MHz. Technologies of
interest include, but are not limited to, novel laser and OPO operating
schemes, laser and OPO systems and designs, optical coatings, laser
materials, and non-linear materials. Associated technologies, such as
diode drive electronics, output power control and stabilization,
wavelength tuning and stabilization techniques, rapid pulse generation,
optical shutters and Q switches, polarization and phase controllers,
and optical coupling techniques are also of interest. b. Detector
systems. Single element and array detectors sensitive in the visible to
mid-infrared wavelength range are desired. Rapid rise times
(approaching a nanosecond) are desired, as is operability at
temperatures greater than 77K. Technologies of interest include, but
are not limited to, detector systems, detector materials, amplification
and biasing electronics, temperature control systems, wavelength
selection (filters, gratings, etc.), and readout technologies (for
array detectors). c. Beam pointing and beam scanning systems. Systems
which can rapidly steer a laser beam as well as the field of view of
the detector are desired. Systems capable of search/track modes and
variable fields of view are also desired. Technologies of interest
include, but are not limited to, controlled mirror sets, microlens
assemblies, gratings, acousto-optical devices, and liquid crystal
devices. Associated technologies such as the scanning drives and
controllers, beam direction monitoring techniques, and pointing
stabilization techniques are also of interest. d. Detection schemes.
Various incoherent and coherent detection schemes are of interest. Such
schemes include, but are not limited to, direct detection of reflected
radiation, return detection of a modulated signal, detection of
laser-induced fluorescence, and detection of raman scattered radiation.
Possible methods for coherent detection include amplitude, frequency,
phase, or polarization modulation. e. Discrimination, ranging, and
acquisition systems. Systems which candiscriminate the signal from the
background environment, condition the signal, and store the data are
required. These systems should be able to resolve time differences as
small as or smaller than a nanosecond, dynamically adjust the gain of
any amplification stages, allow variable timing/ranging techniques,
and/or minimize range uncertainty. A variety of discrimination
techniques are of interest, including nth pulse detection, constant
fraction threshold detection, variable threshold detection, and others.
Maj. Jeff Grantham/Dr. Willie Rockward, AFRL/MNGS, 850-882-1726 or
850-882-4631 ext. 2355, Fax: 850-882-1717, e-mail:
grantham@eglin.af.mil or rockward@eglin.af.mil NAVIGATION AND CONTROL
TECHNOLOGY -- The Navigation and Control Branch (MNGN) is interested in
developing inertial sensor components, GPS anti-jam and antenna
technology, and advanced guidance and control techniques. Inertial
sensor technology should be focused on developing technologies with the
goal of achieving at least tactical grade performance with the
potential for significantly reduced costs and size (less than $2K and
15 cubic inches per inertial measurement unit respectively). Inertial
sensor technologies of interest include micromachined and optical. GPS
technologies of interest are anti-jam techniques including spatial
(beam forming and/or null steering) and temporal anti-jam technologies,
and miniature GPS antenna technologies. Advanced guidance and control
technologies of interest include: guidance law and autopilot designs
that minimize redesign with each new weapon application, methodologies
capable of identifying and tracking dynamic changes in the attitude of
air-to-air targets, and integrated weapon guidance. Integrated weapon
guidance includes guidance-autopilot intgegration,
guidance-seeker-fuze-warhead integration, guidance-seeker integration,
and total system integration to include hardware sensor integration.
Mr. Pete Wise, AFRL/MNGN, 850-882-2961 ext 3337, fax: 850-882-2201,
email: wisej@eglin.af.mil or Dr. Randy Zachery, AFRL/MNGN, 850-882-2961
ext 3453, fax: 850-882-2201, email: zachery@eglin.af.mil (See Part 2 of
2) (0034) Loren Data Corp. http://www.ld.com (SYN# 0002 19980205\A-0002.SOL)
A - Research and Development Index Page
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