Fixed wing manned aircraft for Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) in support of ...

The UN is considering the option to conduct a procurement exercise for the provision of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) services with manned Fixed Wing aircraft (a minimum of two tasking lines) in support of peace-keeping operations in Mali. The aircraft(s) and service components might be based in Timbuktu, Kidal or Gao, Mali as Main Operations Base (MOB) but, for operational reasons, one or more aircraft may be temporarly relocated to other locations such as Mopti or Tessalit if required. The UN is seeking a turn key solution, including the provision of aircraft in accordance with (iaw) the standards contained in Annex 8 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation (the Convention) and associated service components, maintenance, personnel and exploitation of the imagery and data. The contractor may also be required to provide the necessary infrastructure for its equipment and personnel. The imagery data must be made available to the UN in an unencrypted, non-proprietory format. It is expected that contracts will be for a period of 3 years, extendable at the option of the UN to 4 and 5 years, and will generally apply to a single mission area. Technical and operational Criteria. The UN envisions the following requirements for the fixed wing manned aircraft ISR solution: a. 24/7 availability service. The UN is considering a minimum of two (2) 24/7 available tasking lines. The contractor must provide on a continuous basis enough crews to ensure a maximum of 120 flight hours per month per tasking line. These hours do not include currency or training requirements, just operational Mission flight time. It is envisioned the need for day and night personnel shifts to guarantee the availability of crews, aircraft, analysis and service associated components on a 24/7 basis. b. Aircraft and aircrew must be able to operate in uncontrolled and unsegregated airspace in instrumental meteorological conditions (IMC); thus, the aircraft must be fully instrumental flight rules (IFR) certified including provision of “see and avoid” and “see and detect” capability. The cockpit must support the use of night vision goggles (NVG) and the crews must be equipped and trained to carry out IFR sorties at day and night. Aircraft must be equipped/compatible with Night Vision Imaging System (NVIS) / or Night Vision Goggles. The crews must be NVIS/NVG qualified and current. The number of crews and airplanes must support day and night operations with a target of 120 flight hours per month per tasking line with capability for 2 consecutive missions per day in different areas of interest (at least 5 days each week). The service must include at least 1 additional aircraft and crew as standby capability to cover for any eventuality on either of both tasking lines. c. Each tasking line must be able to provide six hours on-station time overhead the MOB (Timbuktu, Kidal or Gao), four hours on-station time at a distance of 250 km from the MOB and two hours at 600 km from the MOB. d. The ISR platform must be able to operate 24/7 from/to Timbuktu, Gao, Bamako, Tessalit and Mopti. e. The UN intends to provide basic ground operations handling support such as GPUs and other ground equipment at its main bases, however aircraft and aircrew shall be capable of self-sustained activity at non-main base locations when and where required for operational reasons. High mobility and regular operations on most of the mentioned airfields is an important requirement. f. The capability should be compatible to a NATO standard video downlink according to Standardization Agreement (STANAG) 4609 and it must support VHF/FM and UHF two-way radio communication with troops and/or command centers on the ground for dynamic tasking and coordination. The ISR asset must be able to take off within 90 minutes of tasking and reach the target area, 250 km away from the MOB within two and a half hours. g. The crews including pilots, payload operators and data analysis shall have the sufficient specific qualification and/or training to perform their respective functions during ISR operations. The airframe shall have enough seats to accommodate one Mission image analysts and one Mission observer. h. Sensor capabilities: h.1) EO/IR HD cameras. Minimum Ground Separation Distance (GSD) of 40cm, ideally 20cm. Both EO and IR cameras must be capable of High Definition (HD) output resolution of 720P 30Hz or higher. Circular error probability of geo-location no greater than 40m. Laser pointer/range finder is highly desirable. h.2) Imagery distribution. (a) The aircraft ISR system shall have outputs to enable simultaneous multiple viewing in multiple locations, such as via landlines or communications links provided by the Mission. The system shall have outputs for near real time full motion video in common standard video file format (e.g. mpeg). (b) Images are to be displayable on standard UN provided computer networks and monitors and recorded (ideally on a NAS, provided by the UN) for subsequent retrieval and display, as required. In time, all captured FMV data must be made available in an unencrypted format for UN long term storage. FMV has to be stored in a common standard video file format (e.g. mpeg) including all relevant metadata. (c) Remote Viewing Terminals (RVT). The ISR system has the capability of simultaneously transmitting near real time imagery to RVT (provided by the contractor) field-deployed with the Mission ground forces. RVTs may be operated in vehicles or on foot. The Operator will provide training for use of RVTs to UN personnel. RVTs must be man portable with integral power supply and provide up to 12 hours continuous operation. Such equipment load must be portable by two soldiers in full combat gear. Imagery reception of the RVT should be achievable at a slant range of 50km from the aircraft. h.3) Dual Payload. In addition to the EO/IR cameras, the service must provide one (1) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) with ground moving target indicator (GMTI) with Coherent Change Detection (CCD) capabilities and (2) ground penetrating radar (GPR) systems for detection of IED. The minimum resolution of the SAR sensor must be 30cm GSD, with a circular error probability no greater than 40m. A signal detection capability is desirable which will be useful to find active devices such as mobile phones, wireless local area networks (WLAN), radios etc. This sensor must be capable of detecting, locating and identifying the data source.