A10 SPO - Small Tactical Terminal Integration
Challenge ended
Description
One Nation Innovation (ONI), on behalf of the United States Air Force (USAF), is integrating Small Tactical Terminal (STT) onto the A-10 to address a severe capability gap created by the obsolescence and sunsetting of the Situational Awareness Datalink (SADL). Through this addition of Link -16, it provides a fundamental requirement to cost effectively destroy, neutralize, negate, deny, disrupt, and/or degrade hostile UAS platforms in any AOR. Through the integration of Link-16 the A-10 can maintain air domain awareness and datalink communications, while enhancing secure communication abilities to meet an Urgent Operational Needs (UON).
Overall Objective
The objective of this effort is to prototype A-10 Small Tactical Terminal integration into United States Air Force (USAF) A-10 Platforms at Moody Air Force Base and Whiteman Air Force Base. At the conclusion of the prototyping effort, the A-10 community will have successfully explored forward leaning architectures and solutions that address evolving mission demands based on complex and realistic problem sets through the integration activity.
Problem Statement
Current usage of Situational Awareness Datalink (SADL) is insufficient to meet warfighter needs due to the obsolescence and sunsetting of the network. The lack of SADL in the battlespace prevents air domain awareness and datalink communications, which could lead to loss of life and destruction/damage of critical resources and equipment. To combat this issue, the A-10 Program Office has devised a solution utilizing the Small Tactical Terminal from L3 Harris however, they require contractor support to facilitate the installation and purchasing of equipment to successfully field a total of 18 A-10 platforms to meet UON requirements within 12 months of contract delivery date.