AOI 27-A001 Resilient Airborne Free-Space Optical Communications Turret

DEPT OF DEFENSE · DEPT OF THE NAVY · SPAWAR · SPAWAR LANT · NIWC ATLANTIC is soliciting AOI 27-A001 Resilient Airborne Free-Space Optical Communications Turret. Solicitation number 27-A001. Classified under NAICS 541715 — Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology). Product/service code AC13 — R&D- DEFENSE SYSTEM: AIRCRAFT (ADVANCED DEVELOPMENT). Responses are due by 16 October 2026 03:59 UTC. Posted on SAM.gov, the US federal contract opportunities system; registration is required to bid.

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 concepts—such 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.