SOURCES SOUGHT
A -- AUTOMATED WARHEAD CHARACTERIZATION MAPPING
- Notice Date
- 4/28/2010
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541712
— Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
- Contracting Office
- Department of the Air Force, Air Force Materiel Command, AAC - Air Armament Center, AAC/PK, 205 West D Avenue, Suite 433, Eglin AFB, Florida, 32542-6864
- ZIP Code
- 32542-6864
- Solicitation Number
- FA9201-46TG-10-WPAFB
- Archive Date
- 5/29/2010
- Point of Contact
- Elesha J. Gentry, Phone: 575-572-1244
- E-Mail Address
-
elesha.gentry@holloman.af.mil
(elesha.gentry@holloman.af.mil)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- This is a Sources Sought Synopsis and Request for Information only. This synopsis is for information and planning purposes only and does not constitute a Request for Proposal and should not be construed as a commitment by the Government to award a contract as a result of this request for information. The purpose of this synopsis is to gain knowledge of interest, capabilities and qualifications of various members of the business community to include the small business community. The 46th Test Group is conducting market research to determine the availability of sources which can develop an innovative, efficient, low-cost means of capturing full-hemisphere, open-air, fragment mass, geometry, and velocity information during warhead characterization tests. Background : The present method of warhead characterization is costly, labor intensive, and produces only a piece of the required data. A warhead is placed in the center of an arena consisting of any combination of blast-pressure gages and fragment collection media. Fragment collection media (often celotex) are placed just above ground level and arc around the warhead at a radius that is a function of the net explosive weight. While this radius ensures bundle survival during blast-pressure impingement, bundles occupy only a small slice of the hemisphere. As such, only a fraction of the fragments are captured for inclusion in the subsequent warhead characterization analysis. Weeks of tedious and error-prone labor are necessary to locate, recover, weigh, and describe the geometry of each fragment entering the bundles. Many small fragments are not recovered and few if any individual fragments are mapped to their specific velocities. In order to develop a more-complete dataset for user consumption, analysts subject raw warhead test data to a series of assumptions, averages, rotations, and summarizations to produce an approximation of the true warhead's fragment mass and velocity field. While checks and balances are in place to assure that overall data appear reasonable, individual fragment masses/geometries remain uncoupled from their velocities and many of the smaller fragments are simply not included in the dataset. All warhead characterizations (and data reduction methods) to date have been conservatively-skewed based on a lethality-mindset. As such, true munitions lethalities are higher than their arena test scores. This is diametrically opposed to CENTCOM's collateral damage mindset and requirement to obtain higher fidelity warhead fragmentation/debris data for much of the current inventory of fielded weapons. Current procedures make high-fidelity re-test prohibitively time consuming, expensive, and technically problematic. Delays in missions can result where high casualties or collateral damage are estimated. To resolve the matter, an innovative combined sensor/software technology is needed whereby sensors can assess object movement within large hemispherical volumes (15 to 300 feet in diameter) at sufficient resolution to detect solid-mass (0.5 gram to 100 kilogram) high-velocity (5 to 8000 feet per second) particles (numbering up to 5000) originating near the center of the hemispherical test space and moving within that volume. The interrogation method must be capable of mapping individual fragment masses to their velocities. The proposed interrogation system must be suitable for open-air outdoor testing and sufficiently robust to handle blast overpressures ranging from 1000 psi near the center of the hemispherical test space to 1 psi near the fringes. In addition to mapped fragment mass-velocity data, the technology must be capable of estimating each fragment's geometry. The proposed interrogation system must be capable of setup by no more than two technicians within a single workday, produce an automated post-test report containing fully mapped fragment mass-velocity data within 1 hour of the test, and provide confirmation that the test process accounts for 99% of the warhead's mass. Innovators are encouraged to take maximum advantage of commercial off the shelf (COTS) sub-technologies. Interested companies should identify system concepts and provide examples that support the technical feasibility of capturing warhead fragmentation information in an automated method such that each fragment mass is immediately mapped to its velocity, where the velocity vector is applied to assess fragment origin. Companies should discuss a proposed path forward (i.e., bench level testing) for development of selected technologies necessary to prove the concept worthy of full-scale pursuit. References: 1. "Test and Data Reduction Procedures for Munitions", Joint Munitions Effectiveness Manual, Army FM 101-51-3-CD (EM0260), Director, USAMSAA, JTCG/ME Program Office, ATTN: AMSRD-AMS-J, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, January 2009. 2. Battaglia, J., et al., "High Speed Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) Imaging and Range Gating Cameras", Thermosense XXIX, Proc. Of SPIE Vol. 6541 654106-1, 2007. 3. Angel, J. "Methodology for Dynamic Characterization of Fragmenting Warheads", ARL-SR-179, May 2009. All interested sources are encouraged to respond to this synopsis and to identify their Company name, contact information, qualifications and experience through a Statement of Capability in the areas described above no later than 14 May 2010, 4:00PM MDT. Please limit your Statement of Capability to no more than 4 pages. Those Capability Statements exceeding four (4) pages may be disregarded as non-compliant. If emailing your Statement of Capability, please send it in a PDF or MS Word format. Include the following reference number on all correspondence: FA9201-46TG-10-WPAFB. Capability should be written as if place of performance is the contractor's facility and Wright-Patterson AFB OH. Please also identify business size as defined by NAICS Code 541712 - Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences. Information should be submitted either electronically or by mail to both of the following locations: 1. 46th Test Group, AAC/PKET (Elesha Gentry), 872 DeZonia Road, Holloman AFB NM 88330, elesha.gentry@holloman.af.mil. 2. 46th Test Group, OL-AC (G. Czarnecki), 2700 D Street, B1661 R228, Wright-Patterson AFB OH 45433 Questions regarding this sources sought synopsis should be directed to Ms. Elesha Gentry, 575-572-1244, email: elesha.gentry@holloman.af.mil. Technical questions should be directed to Mr. Greg Czarnecki, 937-255-6302 x203, email: Gregory.czarnecki@wpafb.af.mil. The Government shall not reimburse the respondent for any costs associated with the information submitted in response to this notice.
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