The US Army Contracting Command – Orlando is conducting market research to identify vendors to develop Fifth Generation Aerial Target (5GAT) prototypes.
The awardee is expected to develop a “low cost, low observable, full scale, transonic” aerial target with electronic attack capability for a range of “aircraft/missile/weapon systems test and evaluation programs,” the US Army said in a notice.
Moreover, the developer should include “advanced manufacturing techniques such as additive manufacturing technologies” for better quality at a lower price.
The follow-on effort to the 5GAT contract awarded to Sierra Technical Services is expected to have one participant awarded a contract in 2023. The Sierra aerial target crashed during its maiden flight test in 2020.
Expected Features
The notice specified that the development cost of two targets and their command and control systems should not exceed $50 million, while the average unit flyaway cost should be less than $10 million.
The service expects the target to last 25 sorties or 50 flight hours and take off and land from a 7,000 feet (2,133 meters) long and 150 feet (46 meters) wide runway.
In addition, the target should have an endurance of 90 to 120 minutes and emit passive radio frequency and infrared signatures, mimicking an actual fifth-generation fighter. It should also have both internal and external payload-carrying facilities.
Lastly, the aerial target should have a flight termination system, providing the operator the option of terminating the aircraft at any time during the flight.