A Request for Information (RFI) for Low Bulk/Low Weight Emergency Flotation for Helicopter Aviators

The Dept of the Army and the Dept of the Navy is requesting information from government and industry for low bulk, lightweight surface flotation for the cold water survival ensemble to be developed incrementally in-house by the Naval Air Warfare Center for the Army's Air Soldier program. Program objectives are to 1) meet cold-water survival and mission requirements at 25% reduced system weight and bulk, and 2) be maintainable by an untrained user. Goals are for lighter, less bulky surface flotation that will address shortcomings below and : a) Reduce life cycle cost; b) Obviate need for, or reduce the difficulty of, swimming to and boarding a raft; c) Prevent/retard seawater from entering in the first place; purge any shipped seawater; d) Protect the user from continued heat loss from exposure to cold air and seawater seaspray; e) User-capable emergency repair (i.e., while raft deployed in water) to enable 72 hour intact flotation; f) Maintain location for searchers; g) and ideally, not attract sharks. Especially sought is the consolidation of protective functions that are currently segregated into separate layers (for example, combining surface flotation and personal flotation into a single system; buoyancy technologies that take advantage of environment (salt water activated and sustained, etc). To be avoided are technologies that require power provided by aircraft connection, or those that increase maintenance, weight and/or bulk over current technologies. Background. The Air Soldier program is a system upgrade from Air Warrior. . The current CWSE consists of: individual inflatable life raft worn in a body-mounted carrier, inflatable life preserver, inflatable mittens and hood, moisture vapor transmissible dry suit with permanent wrist seals, neck seals, and socks; and insulative undergarments. Current flotation includes: LPU-40/P inflatable life preserver (65 pounds buoyancy/packed weight=2 lbs) and JSLVP single-place inflatable raft (180 lbs buoyancy/packed weight=6.2 lbs; vacuum-packed dims =250 in3) both of welded, coated nylon (CO2 cartridge, dual manual pin actuation and breath-inflatable); sea anchor of welded, coated nylon pouch. Shortcomings: Inflatable-type flotation is at risk for puncture and leakage. Inflatable-type flotation requires a leakage inspection and servicing the CO2 bottle, which both requires unpacking - but there is no re-vacuum packing/sealing support equipment available. Vacuum-packed inflatable flotation often requires additional CO2 bottles to break package. Current man-mounted, inflatable, single-place rafts are too bulky and hot for individual wear. Multi-Place inflatable rafts often too bulky to deploy through emergency hatches. Multi-Place inflatable rafts often require complicated tie-downs making emergency deployment unlikely. Current sea anchor design is limited in ability to maintain position. Army cold-water surface immersion protection and survival requirements: 72 hours flotation capability, retard or eliminate water ingress once deployed to aid in maintaining user's body core temperature at or above 95 deg F, hand skin temperature at or above 60deg F for 4 hours immersion turbulent 32 deg F water; maintain ability to egress from underwater aircraft (i.e., inherent system undeployed buoyancy not to exceed +175N); single-place deployed minimum flotation buoyancy of180 lbs; mobility and flexibility to perform water survival procedures without impediment. Integrated protection against natural predators is desired but not required. Mission requirements: 11-hour flying time in routine ambient conditions; non-toxic to skin; resistance to environmental contaminants (sand, petroleum, oil, lubricants, solar radiation, temperature extremes of -20deg F to +140deg F, mold, mildew, salt fog); compatibility with current Army gear and equipment required to be worn with dry suits, such as inflatable flotation collars, armor, masks, gloves, helmets, and boots. User: Very large and very small (central 95% of Army flying population) Army aviators (pilots, co-pilots, crewmembers but excluding passengers) of both sexes of varying composition, body and extremity shape and size. Routine Maintenance: if not a disposable concept, yield a service life of 2 years; have a shelf life of 5 years; ideally, user-capable place- in-service, repair, maintenance, and support or no more than local level support. CONTENT OF RFI RESPONSE The capabilities described herein are intentionally broad to ensure a comprehensive market survey. Responses to this RFI should describe the capability available from each proposed alternative identified for the mission and constraints defined herein. All respondents are requested to provide the following and shall clearly identify any elements of the system that would be delivered with less than Government purpose rights: Provide a general description of the concept of design and operation, and current applications.Pprovide cimensional configuration drawings stowed and, deployed configurations. Define/describe inherent system undeployed buoyancy; single-place deployed minimum flotation buoyancy and any protection against natural predators. Describe compliance with mission requirements above. Describe sizing and concept of fit. Describe maintenance concept including , projected service life, shelf life , place- in-service actions, repair actions, and other maintenance and support. SUBMISSION INFORMATION Parties interested in responding to the RFI must submit a statement of interest and samples no longer than ten pages and or less than 10MB to : Naval Air Warfare Center Dept of Navy ATTN: WLTodd, Code 4673, Room 1B58 48110 Shaw Road Patuxent River, MD 20670 DSN 342-9224/com (301) 342-9224 Full response submissions to the RFI shall be received no later than 8 August 2011. As stated above, this is NOT a request for Proposal. THIS SYNOPSIS IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS A COMMITMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT, NOR WILL THE GOVERNMENT PAY FOR ANY INFORMATION SOLICITED OR PROVIDED. VI. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION This RFI is an exchange of information between Government and Industry. It is the first step of an iterative process aimed at understanding the existence of sources that can deliver an inventory of fleet operable systems capable of performing the ML/LR COD mission described herein. Additional RFIs requesting further detail may be issued in the future to continue the Government's informational exchange with Industry. Information received as a result of this request is expected to be sensitive and/or proprietary to the responding company and will be protected as such. Any proprietary information received in response to this request will be properly protected from any unauthorized disclosures; however it is incumbent upon the respondent to appropriately mark all submissions. The Government will not use any proprietary information submitted to establish the capability, requirements, approach, or solution so as to not inadvertently restrict competition. In order to complete its review, NAVAIR 4.10 must be able to share the information within the Government and any responses marked in a manner that will not permit such internal Government review may be returned without being assessed/considered. THIS RFI IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL. IT DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A SOLICITATION AND SHALL NOT BE CONSTRUED AS A COMMITMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT. RESPONSES IN ANY FORM ARE NOT OFFERS AND THE GOVERNMENT IS UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO AWARD A CONTRACT AS A RESULT OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. NO FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE TO PAY FOR PREPARATION OF RESPONSES TO THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. ANY INFORMATION SUBMITTED BY RESPONDENTS TO THIS TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION IS STRICTLY VOLUNTARY.