The US Navy’s Office of Naval Research (ONR) has issued a Request for Information (RFI) to gain more insight into what types of technologies exist to support development of new long-endurance decoys that can help defeat anti-ship missiles.
More specifically, according to the RFI, “ONR is interested in discovering what technologies industry currently has that can provide a quick-reaction, affordable ship-based long-endurance airborne decoy with modular EW mission compatible payloads. The decoy will be part of a multi-layered approach to enhance the soft-kill capability of the US Navy against current and evolving anti-ship missile (ASM) threats.” It adds, “US Navy ships are subject to attack by high speed, maneuvering missiles with the potential to be delivered in salvos sized to overwhelm defenses. Existing defenses include hard-kill as well as on-board and off-board electronic warfare (EW) systems; all three combined are needed to be most effective against current and emerging threats.”
ONR’s Command & Control, Communications, Cyber, EW, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISRT) Department, EW program office (CODE 312), issued the RFI, which is seeking information about decoy vehicles and EW payloads that are at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5 or higher. Program officials are seeking decoy technologies that can provide “rapid deployment and transition to stable flight; ability to be recoverable (optionally expendable); secure electronic data communication between the decoy and the ship” and the “ability to carry modular EW payloads.” In addition, the decoy should be able to provide autonomous flight operation as well as the ability to receive command and control information from the ship and “reposition, realign and stabilize multi-spectral apertures to maintain focus on the threats.”
Program officials anticipate that “significant co-dependency” between the decoy vehicle and the decoy payload will be an important factor, and it is encouraging companies to collaborate on complete solutions. ONR will also accept proposals that only address the decoy vehicle or the payload, but these should address issues such as isolation between them.
The RFI states that ONR is “especially interested in understanding the trade space between cost and capability.” It seeks responses that address “the cost of proposed solutions and how those costs scale with meeting the full set of requirements…versus a subset of those requirements.” For instance, it asks, “What capability is possible at the $1M, $500k, $100k price points?”
Program officials are hosting a classified Industry Day (SECRET and TS/SCI level) at the Naval Research Lab (Washington, D.C.) on June 23, where it will provide more program details, including a description of past US Navy shipboard decoy investments. The US Navy currently relies on the Nulka, an RF decoy. It has also developed the Long Endurance Electronic Decoy (LEED) with Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control (Grand Prairie, Texas).
The decoy RFI was issued under the Long Range Broad Agency Announcement for Navy and Marine Corps Science and Technology (BAA Call N0001425SBC06). The technical point of contact is Dr. Kevin Leonard, Division Director, ONR Code 312, e-mail [email protected]. Responses are due by July 18, and program officials expect to complete their review of industry white papers by Aug. 25. – J. Knowles
