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The US Department of the Air Force has selected an additional 18 companies to compete for tasks to develop, demonstrate, test and integrate elements of the Advanced Battle Management System, or ABMS.
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The goal of ABMS is to enable the Air Force and Space Force to operate together and as part of a joint team – connecting sensors, decision makers and weapons through a secure data network enabling rapid decision making and all-domain command and control.
The innovative acquisition strategy required by ABMS reflects the rapid pace of technological change – gains being exploited by potential military adversaries.
Dr Will Roper, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, explained the importance of the program, saying, "Just like the internet of things, our Air and Space Force platforms will only be as effective as the data they can access, machine-to-machine.
"ABMS will help create internet-like data sharing across our joint force to fight at internet speeds. Rapid development and testing cycles are critical to fail, learn, and leap ahead of advancing threats."
The contracting vehicle being used is indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity, or IDIQ, contract, which provides each vendor the opportunity to receive anywhere from US$1,000 to US$950 million in total over the next five years for work in up to seven different ABMS categories. Tasks will be awarded on an agile basis throughout the year.
Despite the contract ceiling, spending is ultimately limited by the funding appropriated in the president’s budget, not on the cumulative ceiling of a contract. In the FY21 PB, the Air Force requested $3.3 billion for ABMS over five years.
Dr Roper said, "To field a complex set of capabilities at digital speeds requires a different, more innovative acquisition strategy. With ABMS, we are adopting best practices from the private sector to get capabilities into the hands of the warfighter years ahead of traditional approaches."
The goal of this strategy is to spur competition, learn what technological approaches work and don’t work, reduce risk, and streamline the contracting process to weeks instead of months, so we can develop and deliver ABMS capability alongside operators throughout the year.
A year ago, the Department of the Air Force evolved the ABMS acquisition strategy and established the Chief Architect Office to lead the effort. In December 2019, a major “on-ramp” exercise involving all military services in support of the US Northern Command was executed.
During this on-ramp, new commercial low-Earth orbiting satellites were integrated for high bandwidth communications and an F-22 Raptor and multi-Service F-35 Lightning II aircraft shared data via a secure gateway relevant to a denied operating environment.
The next on-ramp, scheduled for the end of August (after being postponed by the COVID-19 outbreak), will respond to a simulated attack on US space assets and involve three combatant commands:
- US Space Command;
- US Northern Command; and
- US Strategic Command.
Another ABMS on-ramp scheduled for September will support US Indo-Pacific Command and US Space Command, connecting sensors and shooters in a geographic operational theatre outside the US for the first time.
The ABMS development team will write fair opportunity requests within each product category so companies can compete for a contract to mature ABMS technologies and evaluate those technologies and vendors during these on-ramps.
Validated ABMS capabilities demonstrated during on-ramps are then integrated into ongoing battle network plans and leveraged to address operational needs today.
Preston Dunlap, Department of the Air Force chief architect, added, "Agile operations require agile technology. Agile technology requires agile acquisition. Agile acquisition requires agile contracting.
"It’s common sense. We just don’t always do this in government. But if we want to compete and win in the modern era, it’s not just common sense, it’s a national security imperative."
The companies added to the ID/IQ in this round are: Accenture Federal Services; Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp; Black River Systems; Booz Allen Hamilton; CAE USA Mission Solutions; CUBIC (GATR Technologies); Global Air Logistics and Training; Leidos; Mercury Defense Systems; Metron; NetScoutsystems; Octo Consulting Group; Omni Fed; Rincon Research Corporation; Rise8; Science Applications International Corporation; Strategic Mission Elements; Wind River Systems.
Stephen Kuper
Steve has an extensive career across government, defence industry and advocacy, having previously worked for cabinet ministers at both Federal and State levels.
