Riggers with the 528th Sustainment Brigade (Special Operations) (Airborne) Traveled to Fort Stewart to train on the Joint Precision Airdrop System (JPADS). Photo by Sgt. Vance Williamson, 528th Sustainment Brigade (Special Operations)(Airborne)
The Army is seeking white papers from industry to inform development of a new “air-droppable air vehicle” prototype capable of operating in contested environments.
A new Request for Project Proposals (RPP) notice outlines the Contested Aerial Delivery Development (CADD) effort, which would incorporate an air vehicle prototype that can carry a payload of at least 250 pounds as well as development of a navigation sensor kit for GPS-denied environments, mission planning software and command and control tools.
Riggers with the 528th Sustainment Brigade (Special Operations) (Airborne) Traveled to Fort Stewart to train on the Joint Precision Airdrop System (JPADS). Photo by Sgt. Vance Williamson, 528th Sustainment Brigade (Special Operations)(Airborne)
Riggers with the 528th Sustainment Brigade (Special Operations) (Airborne) Traveled to Fort Stewart to train on the Joint Precision Airdrop System (JPADS). Photo by Sgt. Vance Williamson, 528th Sustainment Brigade (Special Operations)(Airborne)
“In a contested, anti-aircraft/area denial environment, traditional forms of aerial delivery are not possible due to the presence of both kinetic and electronic defenses. Advances are required in aerial delivery vehicles to increase their operable deployment range from target, which puts aircraft out of harm’s way. Additionally, advances in sensor technology are required to allow these aerial delivery vehicles to operate nominally in the presence of electronic warfare,” the Army writes in the notice published on March 6.
The CADD effort would tie-in with the larger Joint Precision Air Drop System (JPADS) program of record, the Army added in an update to the notice published on Monday.
JPADS is the Army’s “military airdrop capability to resupply warfighters on the frontline in areas incapable of using global positioning systems,” according to the service.
“The purpose of this RPP is to request white papers to inform system development, testing and evaluation of a preliminary design for a CADD capability,” the Army writes in the new notice.
For the air-droppable air vehicle component of CADD, the Army noted payload compartments “must provide quick-release latching mechanisms for efficient unloading” and in a potential future evaluation should demonstrate “successful delivery of payloads with no significant damage across five airdrop trials under operational conditions.”
The air vehicle prototypes must have a minimum range of 150 nautical miles, be able to operate at altitudes of 5,000 to 15,000 feet and support payload release velocities between 90 and 130 knots of airspeed, according to the RPP.
“The intended launch modality for this effort is airdrop. No special consideration will be given for other launch modalities,” the Army writes in the update published Monday.
Along with the air vehicle, CADD would include developing a navigation sensor kit that must “maintain accuracy for up to five hours of continuous operation without external GPS input” in contested environments, as well as in dust, heavy rain or up to certain electromagnetic interference levels.
“The sensor kit must provide modular components and enable plug-and-play functionality for seamless swapping of components, with integration and configuration times of under 2 hours,” the RPP states.
CADD is also expected to incorporate development of mission planning software to generate optimized flight paths, communication tools to support “secure, real-time data exchange between the air vehicle and ground control station over encrypted channels” and a command and control interface “to enable operators to monitor vehicle status (e.g., position, speed, fuel/power levels) and issue commands (e.g., rerouting, altitude adjustments) in real time.”
A version of this story originally appeared in affiliate publication Defense Daily.