GOVERNMENT CONTRACT OPPORTUNITY
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Notice ID: 27-A001
Title: AOI 27-A001 Resilient Airborne Free-Space Optical Communications Turret
Agency: DEPT OF DEFENSE
Sub-Agency: DEPT OF THE NAVY
Office: NIWC ATLANTIC

TYPE & CLASSIFICATION
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Opportunity Type: Solicitation
NAICS Code: 541715
PSC Code: AC13
Set-Aside: No Set Aside

LOCATION
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State: SC
City: NORTH CHARLESTON
ZIP: 29419-9022

KEY DATES
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Posted: 2026-10-07T11:42:32.000Z
Response Deadline: 2026-10-16T03:59:00.000Z
Status: Active

DESCRIPTION
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The advent of high-threat Electronic Warfare (EW) and Global Positioning System (GPS) or Radio Frequency (RF)-denied operational domains poses an immediate risk to Department of Navy (DoN), Marine Corps, and joint aerial and maritime fleet operations. Modern tactical conceptssuch as Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO) and Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2)demand ultra-high-bandwidth communications and high-precision timing synchronization across dynamic, multi-domain nodes without reliance on vulnerable RF spectra or satellite navigation. Precision optical clock synchronization and free-space optical communications (FSOC) offer timing holdover improvements and superior timing synchronization in GPS-denied environments, and high-speed low-probability-of-intercept/lowprobability-of-detection communication links. However, transitioning optical time transfer and FSOC from benign ground laboratories to highdynamic flight environments presents severe aero-optical and mechanical barriers. Dynamic aircraft boundary layers, trans-sonic shock structures, aero-optical phase aberrations, basemotion jitter, and stringent airframe size, weight, power (SWaP), and aerodynamic drag constraints disrupt beam coherence and line-of-sight tracking. Furthermore, existing commercial optical gimbals lack the structural airworthiness certifications, thermal/pressure shock resilience, fine pointing, acquisition, and tracking/PAT (PAT) closed-loop rejection required for host aircraft integration. NIWC Atlantic seeks to prototype and demonstrate a flight-certified, aero-optically resilient dual-turret optical communications and optical time-transfer system operable across ground, littoral, and multi-altitude airborne regimes.

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Source: Gov Contract Finder
Canonical URL: https://govcontractfinder.com/contracts/aoi-27-a001-resilient-airborne-free-space-optical-communicat-27-a001
Official Source: SAM.gov
Official URL: https://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/f3f71c39fe5a4d8bb8d6edf5a99e0440/view