N221-061 TITLE: Kill Assessment and Closely Spaced Object Resolution with Elevated Electro-Optic/Infrared (EO/IR)

OUSD (R&E) MODERNIZATION PRIORITY: Directed Energy (DE)

TECHNOLOGY AREA(S): Sensors

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), 22 CFR Parts 120-130, which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services, including export of sensitive technical data, or the Export Administration Regulation (EAR), 15 CFR Parts 730-774, which controls dual use items. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals (FNs), their country(ies) of origin, the type of visa or work permit possessed, and the statement of work (SOW) tasks intended for accomplishment by the FN(s) in accordance with the Announcement. Offerors are advised foreign nationals proposed to perform on this topic may be restricted due to the technical data under US Export Control Laws.

OBJECTIVE: Develop an Electro-Optical/Infra-Red (EOIR) imaging system with capability to provide Kill Assessment (KA) and Raid Counting from an elevated position.

DESCRIPTION: Current U.S. Naval combat systems use onboard radar systems and processing for tracking, classification, and discrimination of incoming threat complexes. Threat complexes comprised of Closely Spaced Objects (CSOs) will fall within the resolution of onboard radar systems causing blind spots and preventing an accurate count of the number of threats present. Without an accurate count of inbound threats, the combat system must make choices on how to respond, which may be less than optimal and may not achieve raid annihilation. The same argument extends to KA after intercept, which is a critical time for the Combat System to make further engagement decisions. There is currently no known solution that will solve the blind spots issue.

Placing an off board EO/IR system at operationally relevant locations with respect to the ship will allow for the Ship Self-Defense System (SSDS) Combat System (CS) to observe incoming threats from a perspective which will address the stated KA and CSO blind spots. While it would be possible to gain some performance improvement on these KA and CSO concerns by upgrading the native radar systems, this would be time and cost prohibitive. Observing the incoming threat complexes and intercept points from a different aspect with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) EO/IR sensors is desired to address performance and cost concerns.

By placing an EO/IR imaging capability at an operationally relevant elevation (to be determined in Phase I), inbound threat complexes could be observed from a different perspective than what is currently available to the shipboard sensors. The Navy seeks a system consisting of an EO/IR imaging capability with a mechanism to deliver it to a tactically useful off board position (to be determined in Phase I) to support self-defense engagement timelines. Current systems do not provide this capability. Selecting a platform capable of supporting not just an imaging capability but also computer hardware and software would allow for the development of a set of functions to observe inbound threats at pre- and post-intercept to supplement KA capabilities. Final system solution should satisfy testing requirements cited in Phase II. Solutions must cover both sub and supersonic Anti-Ship Cruise Missiles (ASCMs) and must meet or exceed current time to engagement timeline and SSDS CS survivability. The solution can consist of physical hardware, models and high-fidelity simulations, or a combination thereof. Any model and related simulation(s) used must be based on the detection parameters of EO/IR sensor(s) which are currently commercially available. The solution will be evaluated against scenarios provided by the sponsor. Provided scenarios will contain threat or threat surrogate information. Examples of desired detection capability would be Night Vision Integrated Performance Model (NV-IPM) developed by Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Combat systems, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) Center�s Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate. Detection models of similar fidelity and capability will be acceptable. The solution used to demonstrate initial KA and Raid Counting algorithms may be based on synthetic data representative of selected sensor(s). Final delivered solution must also meet MIL-STD-810 for environmental conditions.

Work produced in Phase II may become classified. Note: The prospective contractor(s) must be U.S. Owned and Operated with no Foreign Influence as defined by DOD 5220.22-M, National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual, unless acceptable mitigating procedures can and have been implemented and approved by the Defense Counterintelligence Security Agency (DCSA), formerly the Defense Security Service (DSS). The selected contractor must be able to acquire and maintain a secret level facility and Personnel Security Clearances, in order to perform on advanced phases of this contract as set forth by DCSA and NAVSEA in order to gain access to classified information pertaining to the national defense of the United States and its allies; this will be an inherent requirement. The selected company will be required to safeguard classified material IAW DoD 5220.22-M during the advance phases of this contract.

Phase III demonstration will allow for the opportunity to demonstrate the full solution capability against live scenarios of the same scope as those provided by sponsor during development phases. The solution developer will be responsible for providing any solution specific instrumentation and data collection necessary to prove the solution satisfies the criteria for success. SSDS system data will be made available for use in post-test analysis.

PHASE I: Develop a concept for an EO/IR imaging system with the capability to provide KA and Raid Counting from an elevated position. Demonstrate the feasibly of the concept to meet the described parameters listed in the Description through modeling, simulation, and analysis. Simulations results should be presented in the form of parameterized sweeps to demonstrate tactical regions of effectiveness and boundaries. The Phase I Option, if exercised, will include the initial design specifications and capabilities description to build a prototype solution in Phase II.

PHASE II: Develop and deliver a prototype of an EO/IR imaging system with the capability to provide KA and Raid Counting from an elevated position capable of stand-alone operation and a notional plan for integration into the SSDS CS. Demonstrate at a Government- or company-provided facility that the prototype meets all parameters presented in the Description. Final delivered solution must also meet MIL-STD-810 for environmental conditions.

It is probable that the work under this effort will be classified under Phase II (see Description section for details).

PHASE III DUAL USE APPLICATIONS: Support the Navy in transitioning the technology to Navy use through system integration and qualification testing for the EO/IR prototype developed in Phase II. The EO/IR imaging system prototype will be delivered to support an IWS-10 critical experiment conducted jointly by the company and Combat System Engineering Agent (CSEA). This is expected to take place in a live environment with tactical SSDS CMS SW. Live fire test scenarios will be similar in scope to test scenarios provided by the sponsor during development phases. The transition will require integration of the prototype into SSDS CS.

Elevated EO/IR imaging system has applications in managing disaster relief efforts and addressing wildfires.

REFERENCES:

1. E. Blasch and B. Kahler, "Multiresolution EO/IR target tracking and identification," 2005 7th International Conference on Information Fusion, Philadelphia, PA, 2005, pp. 8 pp.-, doi: 10.1109/ICIF.2005.1591865. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=1591865.
2. Bath, William G. "Overview of Platforms and Combat Systems", Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Volume 25, Number 2 (2020) Integrated Air and Missile Defense, https://www.jhuapl.edu/Content/techdigest/pdf/V35-N02/35-02-Bath.pdf.

KEYWORDS: Electro-Optical/Infrared; EO/IR; Kill Assessment; KA; Raid Counting; Inbound Threats; Raid Annihilation; Detection models for incoming threats