The US Air Force (USAF) said on 29 January that it intends to award General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) a sole source contract for the Multi-Intelligence Smart Processing (MISP) effort.
The contract is to advance commercial and government-developed sensor technologies that combine multiple sensor research areas across multiple domains and/or cyber environments. These experiments will aid in the development and transition of systems of sensor systems that increase current defence capabilities in C4ISR, targeting, combat identification, battlespace awareness, and protection of airborne asses in contested environments, according to a notice posted on Federal Business Opportunities.
The USAF intends to award GA-ASI a sole source contract for the MISP effort. It involves evaluation and testing, among other tasks, of service-developed sensor exploitation technologies into the MQ-9 Reaper. (GA-ASI)
This work includes evaluation, selection, procurement, modification, integration, installation, and testing of Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL)-developed sensor exploitation technologies and communications into the GA-ASI MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and associated ground control stations (GCS) and squadron operations centres (SOC).
The contract is worth approximately USD50 million and is expected to begin in fiscal year 2019 (FY 2019). GA-ASI deferred a request for comment on 30 January to the USAF, which did not respond by the time of publication.
The MISP objectives include conducting research and development (R&D), modelling and simulation (M&S), experimentation, testing, technology demonstrations, and analysis for characterising the performance profile of combined system of sensor systems technologies. GA-ASI will also integrate multiple combinations of advanced sensors, processing, and exploitation capabilities focused on C4ISR and strike.
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