Request For Information (RFI) Capability Statements and Documentation for Free Space Electronic Warfare Simulator Radiator (FEWSR)

I. DISCLAIMER THIS NOTICE IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ONLY. This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes - it does not constitute as a Request for Proposal (RFP) or a promise to issue an RFP in the future. This RFI does not commit the Government to contract for any supply or service whatsoever. Responses will be treated as information only and will not be evaluated as a proposal. Further, the Government is not at this time seeking proposals and will not accept unsolicited proposals. A return response from the government regarding RFI submissions is not guaranteed. The RFI responders are advised that the Government will not pay for any information or administrative costs incurred in response to this RFI; all costs associated with responding to this RFI will be solely at the interested party's expense. Not responding to this RFI does not preclude participation from future announcements or contracts. Respondents should indicate which portions of their response are propriety and should mark accordingly. NOTE: This RFI is not associated with any previous or ongoing RFPs or Fair Opportunity Proposal Requests issued by the DAF. II. BACKGROUND The quantity and sophistication of emitters continues to grow as more countries can acquire and improve their homeland protection infrastructure. In addition, many emitters produce multi-beam waveforms with greater power and electronically agile beams. This increases the complexity, density, and diversity of the battlefield environments the warfighter will have to face. Modem Electronic Warfare (EW) suites, such as radar warning receivers (RWRs), electronic countermeasures (ECM) systems, and electronic support measures (ESM) systems, must process and identify signals in these dense heterogeneous threat environments with much greater fidelity than in the past. The test environment should recreate these conditions as close to reality as possible to enable developmental, operational, and military utility testing. An Installed Systems Test Facility (ISTF), such as the Benefield Anechoic Facility (BAF), provides a more realistic mechanism to provide that environment as it has no signal or signal combination restrictions, significantly greater density, and diversity than the open-air range (OAR), and, since it is free space radio frequency (RF), will test the platform's entire signal processing chain. Current BAF systems, while capable of creating dense, realistic scenarios, require additional capabilities to meet the evolving needs of the test community. The BAF requires a capability to transmit advanced and emerging threat waveforms to test the electronic combat support systems of both current and future aircraft and weapon systems. The transmit capability will support testing across DoD services for both operational test (OT) and developmental test (DT). This capability will augment the ISTF capabilities of the BAF to represent battlefield conditions more realistically. This system will require integration with the existing CEESIM/NEWEG based BAF Threat Simulation System. Digital and low power RF generation systems have already been specified. This request is specific to the RF amplification and radiation from 2 GHz - 18 GHz. The final system will then need to be integrated into a mobile cart complete with antenna mast. This solicitation is being presented under the Free Space Electronic Warfare Simulator Radiator (FEWSR) program. III. SPECIFIC INFORMATION OF INTEREST The FEWSR system shall operate in a diverse environment, requiring it to operate alongside other simulators and radiators. Within the BAF architecture, various simulators generate the multi-signal EW environment that includes threat radars, radar targets, communications, and navigation signals. It is important to note that FEWSR will need to be able to operate with both newly designed, and legacy amplification and antenna systems to support increased threat density scenarios. The threat simulator typically includes a scenario and signal control subsystem, a digital word generation subsystem, an RF signal generation subsystem and amplifier, filter assembly, and antenna. FEWSR aims to replace the legacy antenna and amplification. This new capability will enable the simulator system to transmit the signals (red, gray & blue) at increased power and with frequency, polarization, and beam diversity to consistently illuminate the test area over the frequency and, provide pulse-to-pulse polarization and beam changes, and improve calibration and setup efficiency. FEWSR will interface with the threat radar simulator through an RF signal generator. The RF signal generator component is the RF generator (RFGEN) in the case of Next Generation Electronic Warfare Environment Generator (NEWEG), or the signal generator (SG or RF drawer) in the case of Combat Electromagnetic Environment Simulator (CEESIM) This system is for testing against an installed system on the ground inside a chamber. This application requires a wider antenna beam than other common electronic warfare applications. The system under test (SUT) antennas will be on the order of 100 feet (or less) from the desired system. Our customers desire a wide variety of test scenarios. The system must be able to change polarizations and beamwidths. A large dynamic range with regards to effective radiated power is also required. Setup and test efficiency is also key in this effort. Every aspect of the development needs to take setup time into account. This is true for pre-test setup as well was intra-test adjustments. FEWSR aims to deliver a system which is conceptually a means to produce complex RF modulations complete with beam shape control and steering. As presented here, it is conceived as essentially an amplifier and antenna, which receives the threat signal from a signal generation system (e.g., a threat signal simulator) and radiates the received signal to the SUT. Other concepts such as indigenous system RF generation are also possible. Multiple Free Space carts surround the SUT and radiate those signals toward the SUT from multiple locations. FEWSR transmit antennas shall coexist with other types of radiating antennas in the BAF. In addition, the signal generation system to which FEWSR is connected may also coexist with other RF generation systems, such as the Advanced Radar Environment Simulator (ARES), the Advanced Communication Environment- Faithful Timeslot Messaging (ACE-FTM) stimulator, the Joint Communications Simulator (JCS), the Global Positioning System (GPS) simulator, etc. However, the FEWSR system is not required to interface to these systems. Each FEWSR transmit system radiates the signals with the appropriate power level, polarization, and beam coverage to present a representative environment to the RWR and other RF sensors on the SUT. Required Capabilities 1. Ability to transmit 2-18 GHz from single location (not necessarily a single aperture) - Pulse-to-pulse full spectrum coverage - Co-located threats / multi-radar threat systems at one chamber location 2. Beam Width Agility/Diversity - Dynamic change in SUT illumination based on baseline of system/antenna being tested - Multi-beam threat at one location 3. Low RF Reflectivity - Polarization Agility/Diversity/Stability - Polarization diversity threat-to-threat at same location - Polarization diversity single threat as EP or diversion technique 4. Representative Power - Extended dynamic range (beyond detection to - too-close) 5. Improved Test Efficiency and Effectiveness - Automatic configuration change scenario to scenario; test point-to-test point - Support test of sensitive closed loop systems (e.g., jammers) FEWSR anticipated Key Performance Parameters (KPP)* *KPPs as shown here are not finalized. Depending on the results of Market Research and current industry feasibility, these may be revised. SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS and FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS The Air Force is requesting information on the design, development, and production capabilities of interested potential bidders for the FEWSR system. Respondents should provide information regarding current and past work in relevant technologies. Respondents should provide information regarding their work in electronic warfare threat generation simulation and test systems, microwave antennas, broadband microwave amplification systems, and any other technologies that they deem relevant to FEWSR or otherwise of interest to the Air Force for the sake of FEWSR. The respondents should explain the scope of the respondent's participation in research, development, and production projects, both as sole participants and as team participants. The outcomes and successfulness of the projects should be explained. A. Due Date: Responses are requested by 09 Jan 2022 at 09:00am PST. B. Response Content and Format: To effectively process responses, answer content limited to approximately 8 pages will be greatly appreciated. Response formats may be pdf, Excel, and/or Word and structured as follows: 1. COVER SHEET to include the following company information not to exceed 1 page. Company Name, CAGE Number (if applicable), Address, Point of Contact E-Mail Address, Phone, Company Web Page URL. State whether your company is a small business such as 8(a), small disadvantaged business, woman-owned business, HUBZone small business, Veteran-owned business, or service-disabled veteran owned business. Also include a statement as to whether your company is domestically or foreign owned (if foreign, please indicate the country of ownership). 2. CAPABILITY DERIVED FROM THE RFI As given in the RFI (up to ~ 8 pages of response content). Respondents are not required to answer all questions, although a succinct, plain language response to each question will be greatly appreciated. RFI responses should be submitted electronically to all email addresses listed below, via the appropriate communication channels (email preferred or a DoD SAFE link can be provided): Primaries: Michael Tucker, michael.tucker.29@us.af.mil; James Ryder, james.ryder@us.af.mil Alternates: Marc Venzon, marc_anthony.venzon@us.af.mil; Rochelle Adams, rochelle.adams@us.af.mil; Brianna Vicsotka, brianna.vicsotka@us.af.mil Electronic submissions are highly preferred. In the event electronic submission is not possible, please contact the primary point of contact above for address information. Companies are encouraged to keep all elements of the response unclassified. In the case where a respondent has a need to submit a classified appendix, such material shall not be transmitted across open-source media like public phone, fax, internet, or e-mail. If a respondent has any reason to believe their concept / capabilities may reference ideas or operations that require special protection, please contact the primary point of contact.