Response deadline
Tue, Dec 22, 2026, 3:00 PM ESTSAM.gov listing
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) FOR GROUP 1 AND GROUP 2 UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEM (UAS) TRAINING, MISSION PLANNING, MISSION REHEARSAL, SIMULATION, AND QUALIFICATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
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Opportunity details
- NAICS
- 334220
- Notice type
- Sources Sought
- Original posted
- October 23, 2026
- Last updated
- October 24, 2026
- Notice ID
- fa59c8d3be7b4ea98fb6372bc9f99ccc
Summary
DISCLAIMER THIS REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) IS FOR INFORMATIONAL AND PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY. IT IS A MARKET RESEARCH TOOL BEING USED IN ACCORDANCE WITH FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION (FAR) PART 10 TO IDENTIFY FIRMS POTENTIALLY CAPABLE OF PROVIDING THE CAPABILITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN AND TO INFORM POTENTIAL FUTURE ACQUISITION PLANNING. THIS RFI IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL, INVITATION FOR BID, REQUEST FOR QUOTATION, SOLICITATION, OR COMMITMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT. RESPONSES IN ANY FORM ARE NOT OFFERS AND CANNOT BE ACCEPTED BY THE GOVERNMENT TO FORM A BINDING CONTRACT. THE GOVERNMENT IS UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO AWARD A CONTRACT OR ISSUE A FUTURE SOLICITATION AS A RESULT OF THIS RFI. ANY QUANTITIES OR DELIVERY SCENARIOS REFERENCED IN THIS RFI ARE PROVIDED SOLELY TO SUPPORT MARKET RESEARCH AND CAPACITY PLANNING AND DO NOT CONSTITUTE A GOVERNMENT REQUIREMENT, ACQUISITION FORECAST, MINIMUM OR MAXIMUM PURCHASE QUANTITY, OR COMMITMENT TO PROCURE ANY QUANTITY. RESPONSE TO THIS RFI IS STRICTLY VOLUNTARY. THE GOVERNMENT WILL NOT REIMBURSE RESPONDENTS FOR ANY COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH PREPARING OR SUBMITTING A RESPONSE, PROVIDING SUPPORTING INFORMATION, PARTICIPATING IN FOLLOW-UP DISCUSSIONS, OR PARTICIPATING IN ANY SUBSEQUENT MARKET RESEARCH ACTIVITY. INFORMATION SUBMITTED IN RESPONSE TO THIS RFI WILL NOT BE RETURNED. FAILURE TO RESPOND TO THIS RFI WILL NOT PRECLUDE A COMPANY FROM PARTICIPATING IN ANY FUTURE MARKET RESEARCH EFFORT, TECHNICAL DEMONSTRATION, OR COMPETITIVE ACQUISITION RELATED TO GROUP 1 AND GROUP 2 UAS TRAINING, MISSION PLANNING, MISSION REHEARSAL, SIMULATION, AND QUALIFICATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS. THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT OBLIGATED TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK OR COMMENTS REGARDING ANY RESPONSE. NO TELEPHONE RESPONSES WILL BE ACCEPTED. INTRODUCTION The Aircraft Project Management Office (AIR PMO), under the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager Robotic Autonomous Systems (DRPM RAS), is conducting market research regarding commercially available and emerging Group 1 and Group 2 Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Training, Mission Planning, Mission Rehearsal, Simulation, and Qualification Management Systems. For market research and planning purposes, the Government is seeking information regarding industry’s ability to provide and support these capabilities at scale. Potential future demand could involve thousands of training devices, simulator stations, software licenses, or equivalent deployed units. However, no procurement quantity, acquisition strategy, or requirement has been established, and any quantities referenced in this RFI are illustrative planning assumptions only. The Government requests white papers from interested parties with commercially available or emerging capabilities. Responses will assist the Government in identifying potential solutions; understanding technical approaches, system maturity, interoperability, scalability, implementation considerations, and business models; refining capability objectives and potential requirements; and informing acquisition planning and potential procurement strategies. This RFI follows the Air PMO virtual Industry Day conducted on 03 September 2026. Participation in the Industry Day is not a prerequisite for responding to this RFI. Interested parties may respond regardless of whether they attended the event. This RFI is an independent Air PMO market research effort and is not associated with or conducted in support of the Drone Dominance Program. Respondents should address the capability areas and information requested in this RFI without assuming any relationship to that program’s requirements, acquisition approach, funding, schedule, or procurement quantities. BACKGROUND Simulation-based training has the potential to enhance operator proficiency, improve training availability, increase training throughput, reduce operational risk, and provide realistic Mission Planning and Mission Rehearsal capabilities for Group 1 and Group 2 UAS. These capabilities may enable operators to safely practice in realistic and challenging operational and threat environments, emergency procedures, and degraded system behaviors that may be impractical, unsafe, or cost-prohibitive to execute using live aircraft. Simulation-based training may also reduce operational impacts associated with range availability, airspace restrictions, spectrum congestion, weather delays, aircraft maintenance requirements, and logistical constraints while supporting standardized, repeatable, and scalable training across multiple UAS platforms. The Government seeks to understand current industry capabilities, technology maturity, innovative approaches, best practices, and limitations relevant to these objectives. MARKET RESEARCH PROCESS This RFI represents the white-paper phase of Air PMO's market research effort. The Government may use information received to support capability development, requirements refinement, acquisition planning, evaluation of commercially available and emerging solutions, and potential procurement strategies. Following review of submitted white papers, the Government may invite selected respondents to participate in follow-up discussions or technical demonstrations to further assess the maturity, suitability, and applicability of proposed solutions. Selection for, or participation in, a follow-up activity does not constitute a competitive range determination, source-selection decision, commitment to procure, or preference for any future acquisition. Any invitation and associated instructions will be issued separately. The Government may elect not to conduct follow-up activities and is not obligated to provide feedback to respondents. INFORMATION REQUESTED Respondents should provide a concise white paper describing how their solution addresses the capability areas in this RFI. Responses should identify current capabilities separately from planned, developmental, or partner-provided capabilities. At a minimum, the white paper should address the following: Company profile, business size and socioeconomic status, Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code, Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), and primary point(s) of contact. Executive summary of the proposed solution and the operational or training problem it addresses. Description of the complete solution, including software, hardware, peripherals, hosting or deployment model, licensing, and any Government-furnished equipment or services required. A capability cross-reference identifying each applicable Capability Area of Interest as currently available, configurable, developmental, not available, or provided by a third party. For developmental capabilities, identify the anticipated availability date and key dependencies. Supported Group 1 and Group 2 UAS platforms, flight models, ground control stations, hand controllers, payloads, mission-planning tools, and training environments, including the approach and estimated effort to add new aircraft or configurations. Technical maturity and commercial availability, including Technology Readiness Level or equivalent maturity evidence, operational use, customer base, relevant contracts, and available test or performance data. System architecture, interfaces, data formats, application programming interfaces, standards, modularity, and approach to integration with Government or third-party systems. Training-management, instructor, evaluation, after-action review, records-management, and qualification-management functionality. Cybersecurity, identity and access management, data protection, software-update, cloud or on-premises deployment, and authority-to-operate status or experience, as applicable. NDAA and supply-chain compliance status, including identification of any noncompliant components, planned remediation, dependencies, or assumptions. Implementation approach, schedule, lead times, training and support model, sustainment, warranties, upgrades, and product roadmap. Production, licensing, integration, deployment, and delivery capacity, as applicable to the proposed solution. Identify the unit of measure or configuration used to describe capacity; current sustainable monthly capacity; the number of complete and operational units that could be delivered or deployed within the first 30 calendar days after receipt of an order; and the estimated time required to deliver or deploy a cumulative quantity of 2,000 units. If the respondent cannot currently support that quantity, describe the time, resources, facilities, workforce, suppliers, capital investment, Government actions, or other conditions required to achieve and sustain the necessary capacity. For solutions not delivered as individual hardware devices, provide equivalent information using the most appropriate unit of measure, such as simulator stations, training seats, software licenses, concurrent users, sites, or enterprise deployments. Rough-order-of-magnitude pricing or commercial pricing structure, including major cost drivers, licensing basis, nonrecurring integration costs, and relevant quantity or enterprise pricing assumptions. Pricing is requested solely for market research and is not a proposal or binding offer. Known limitations, risks, dependencies, and recommended Government actions or information needed to support implementation. Readiness and recommended scope for a potential technical demonstration, including the capabilities to be demonstrated; whether the demonstration would be live, virtual, or hybrid; required facilities, equipment, connectivity, Government-furnished information or equipment, data, cybersecurity or network considerations, safety considerations, estimated preparation time, and estimated demonstration duration. CAPABILITY AREAS OF INTEREST The Government is interested in understanding industry capabilities in the following areas. These areas are provided solely for market research and do not constitute final requirements or imply a future procurement strategy. Respondents are not required to address every area and should clearly identify the areas applicable to their solution. Training and Qualification Management Initial operator qualification training Refresher and sustainment training Instructor-led training Student performance tracking Student training records and qualification management Automated grading and evaluation After-action review and debrief capabilities Training syllabus management Unmanned Aircraft Simulation and Flight Fidelity Unmanned Aircraft-specific flight models Realistic flight characteristics and handling qualities Unmanned Aircraft performance modeling Payload effects on aircraft performance Environmental and weather effects Emergency procedure training Lost-link procedures Degraded system operations Mission Planning and Mission Rehearsal Mission planning functionality Mission rehearsal capability Route and waypoint planning Terrain analysis Obstacle analysis Airspace planning Real-world geographic mission rehearsal Operational environment replication Import and export of mission plans, geospatial data, and mapping products Terrain and Synthetic Environment Global terrain databases Satellite imagery integration Digital elevation models Urban environments Maritime environments Custom training area generation Area of Responsibility (AOR) development User-generated scenarios Instructor and Evaluation Capability Instructor Operator Station (IOS) Scenario creation and modification Student monitoring Real-time scenario control Scenario replay Instructor evaluation tools Scenario injection capabilities Contested and Tactical Environment Training GPS-denied operations GPS-degraded operations Electronic warfare effects Communications degradation Adverse weather operations Tactical mission scenarios Multi-aircraft operations System Integration and Interoperability Integration with operational hand controllers Integration with operational Ground Control Stations (GCS) Support for multiple aircraft types Open architecture solutions Future aircra
Read Full Official Summary
DISCLAIMER THIS REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) IS FOR INFORMATIONAL AND PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY. IT IS A MARKET RESEARCH TOOL BEING USED IN ACCORDANCE WITH FEDERAL ACQUISITION REGULATION (FAR) PART 10 TO IDENTIFY FIRMS POTENTIALLY CAPABLE OF PROVIDING THE CAPABILITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN AND TO INFORM POTENTIAL FUTURE ACQUISITION PLANNING. THIS RFI IS NOT A REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL, INVITATION FOR BID, REQUEST FOR QUOTATION, SOLICITATION, OR COMMITMENT BY THE GOVERNMENT. RESPONSES IN ANY FORM ARE NOT OFFERS AND CANNOT BE ACCEPTED BY THE GOVERNMENT TO FORM A BINDING CONTRACT. THE GOVERNMENT IS UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO AWARD A CONTRACT OR ISSUE A FUTURE SOLICITATION AS A RESULT OF THIS RFI. ANY QUANTITIES OR DELIVERY SCENARIOS REFERENCED IN THIS RFI ARE PROVIDED SOLELY TO SUPPORT MARKET RESEARCH AND CAPACITY PLANNING AND DO NOT CONSTITUTE A GOVERNMENT REQUIREMENT, ACQUISITION FORECAST, MINIMUM OR MAXIMUM PURCHASE QUANTITY, OR COMMITMENT TO PROCURE ANY QUANTITY. RESPONSE TO THIS RFI IS STRICTLY VOLUNTARY. THE GOVERNMENT WILL NOT REIMBURSE RESPONDENTS FOR ANY COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH PREPARING OR SUBMITTING A RESPONSE, PROVIDING SUPPORTING INFORMATION, PARTICIPATING IN FOLLOW-UP DISCUSSIONS, OR PARTICIPATING IN ANY SUBSEQUENT MARKET RESEARCH ACTIVITY. INFORMATION SUBMITTED IN RESPONSE TO THIS RFI WILL NOT BE RETURNED. FAILURE TO RESPOND TO THIS RFI WILL NOT PRECLUDE A COMPANY FROM PARTICIPATING IN ANY FUTURE MARKET RESEARCH EFFORT, TECHNICAL DEMONSTRATION, OR COMPETITIVE ACQUISITION RELATED TO GROUP 1 AND GROUP 2 UAS TRAINING, MISSION PLANNING, MISSION REHEARSAL, SIMULATION, AND QUALIFICATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS. THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT OBLIGATED TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK OR COMMENTS REGARDING ANY RESPONSE. NO TELEPHONE RESPONSES WILL BE ACCEPTED. INTRODUCTION The Aircraft Project Management Office (AIR PMO), under the Direct Reporting Portfolio Manager Robotic Autonomous Systems (DRPM RAS), is conducting market research regarding commercially available and emerging Group 1 and Group 2 Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Training, Mission Planning, Mission Rehearsal, Simulation, and Qualification Management Systems. For market research and planning purposes, the Government is seeking information regarding industry’s ability to provide and support these capabilities at scale. Potential future demand could involve thousands of training devices, simulator stations, software licenses, or equivalent deployed units. However, no procurement quantity, acquisition strategy, or requirement has been established, and any quantities referenced in this RFI are illustrative planning assumptions only. The Government requests white papers from interested parties with commercially available or emerging capabilities. Responses will assist the Government in identifying potential solutions; understanding technical approaches, system maturity, interoperability, scalability, implementation considerations, and business models; refining capability objectives and potential requirements; and informing acquisition planning and potential procurement strategies. This RFI follows the Air PMO virtual Industry Day conducted on 03 September 2026. Participation in the Industry Day is not a prerequisite for responding to this RFI. Interested parties may respond regardless of whether they attended the event. This RFI is an independent Air PMO market research effort and is not associated with or conducted in support of the Drone Dominance Program. Respondents should address the capability areas and information requested in this RFI without assuming any relationship to that program’s requirements, acquisition approach, funding, schedule, or procurement quantities. BACKGROUND Simulation-based training has the potential to enhance operator proficiency, improve training availability, increase training throughput, reduce operational risk, and provide realistic Mission Planning and Mission Rehearsal capabilities for Group 1 and Group 2 UAS. These capabilities may enable operators to safely practice in realistic and challenging operational and threat environments, emergency procedures, and degraded system behaviors that may be impractical, unsafe, or cost-prohibitive to execute using live aircraft. Simulation-based training may also reduce operational impacts associated with range availability, airspace restrictions, spectrum congestion, weather delays, aircraft maintenance requirements, and logistical constraints while supporting standardized, repeatable, and scalable training across multiple UAS platforms. The Government seeks to understand current industry capabilities, technology maturity, innovative approaches, best practices, and limitations relevant to these objectives. MARKET RESEARCH PROCESS This RFI represents the white-paper phase of Air PMO's market research effort. The Government may use information received to support capability development, requirements refinement, acquisition planning, evaluation of commercially available and emerging solutions, and potential procurement strategies. Following review of submitted white papers, the Government may invite selected respondents to participate in follow-up discussions or technical demonstrations to further assess the maturity, suitability, and applicability of proposed solutions. Selection for, or participation in, a follow-up activity does not constitute a competitive range determination, source-selection decision, commitment to procure, or preference for any future acquisition. Any invitation and associated instructions will be issued separately. The Government may elect not to conduct follow-up activities and is not obligated to provide feedback to respondents. INFORMATION REQUESTED Respondents should provide a concise white paper describing how their solution addresses the capability areas in this RFI. Responses should identify current capabilities separately from planned, developmental, or partner-provided capabilities. At a minimum, the white paper should address the following: Company profile, business size and socioeconomic status, Commercial and Government Entity (CAGE) code, Unique Entity Identifier (UEI), and primary point(s) of contact. Executive summary of the proposed solution and the operational or training problem it addresses. Description of the complete solution, including software, hardware, peripherals, hosting or deployment model, licensing, and any Government-furnished equipment or services required. A capability cross-reference identifying each applicable Capability Area of Interest as currently available, configurable, developmental, not available, or provided by a third party. For developmental capabilities, identify the anticipated availability date and key dependencies. Supported Group 1 and Group 2 UAS platforms, flight models, ground control stations, hand controllers, payloads, mission-planning tools, and training environments, including the approach and estimated effort to add new aircraft or configurations. Technical maturity and commercial availability, including Technology Readiness Level or equivalent maturity evidence, operational use, customer base, relevant contracts, and available test or performance data. System architecture, interfaces, data formats, application programming interfaces, standards, modularity, and approach to integration with Government or third-party systems. Training-management, instructor, evaluation, after-action review, records-management, and qualification-management functionality. Cybersecurity, identity and access management, data protection, software-update, cloud or on-premises deployment, and authority-to-operate status or experience, as applicable. NDAA and supply-chain compliance status, including identification of any noncompliant components, planned remediation, dependencies, or assumptions. Implementation approach, schedule, lead times, training and support model, sustainment, warranties, upgrades, and product roadmap. Production, licensing, integration, deployment, and delivery capacity, as applicable to the proposed solution. Identify the unit of measure or configuration used to describe capacity; current sustainable monthly capacity; the number of complete and operational units that could be delivered or deployed within the first 30 calendar days after receipt of an order; and the estimated time required to deliver or deploy a cumulative quantity of 2,000 units. If the respondent cannot currently support that quantity, describe the time, resources, facilities, workforce, suppliers, capital investment, Government actions, or other conditions required to achieve and sustain the necessary capacity. For solutions not delivered as individual hardware devices, provide equivalent information using the most appropriate unit of measure, such as simulator stations, training seats, software licenses, concurrent users, sites, or enterprise deployments. Rough-order-of-magnitude pricing or commercial pricing structure, including major cost drivers, licensing basis, nonrecurring integration costs, and relevant quantity or enterprise pricing assumptions. Pricing is requested solely for market research and is not a proposal or binding offer. Known limitations, risks, dependencies, and recommended Government actions or information needed to support implementation. Readiness and recommended scope for a potential technical demonstration, including the capabilities to be demonstrated; whether the demonstration would be live, virtual, or hybrid; required facilities, equipment, connectivity, Government-furnished information or equipment, data, cybersecurity or network considerations, safety considerations, estimated preparation time, and estimated demonstration duration. CAPABILITY AREAS OF INTEREST The Government is interested in understanding industry capabilities in the following areas. These areas are provided solely for market research and do not constitute final requirements or imply a future procurement strategy. Respondents are not required to address every area and should clearly identify the areas applicable to their solution. Training and Qualification Management Initial operator qualification training Refresher and sustainment training Instructor-led training Student performance tracking Student training records and qualification management Automated grading and evaluation After-action review and debrief capabilities Training syllabus management Unmanned Aircraft Simulation and Flight Fidelity Unmanned Aircraft-specific flight models Realistic flight characteristics and handling qualities Unmanned Aircraft performance modeling Payload effects on aircraft performance Environmental and weather effects Emergency procedure training Lost-link procedures Degraded system operations Mission Planning and Mission Rehearsal Mission planning functionality Mission rehearsal capability Route and waypoint planning Terrain analysis Obstacle analysis Airspace planning Real-world geographic mission rehearsal Operational environment replication Import and export of mission plans, geospatial data, and mapping products Terrain and Synthetic Environment Global terrain databases Satellite imagery integration Digital elevation models Urban environments Maritime environments Custom training area generation Area of Responsibility (AOR) development User-generated scenarios Instructor and Evaluation Capability Instructor Operator Station (IOS) Scenario creation and modification Student monitoring Real-time scenario control Scenario replay Instructor evaluation tools Scenario injection capabilities Contested and Tactical Environment Training GPS-denied operations GPS-degraded operations Electronic warfare effects Communications degradation Adverse weather operations Tactical mission scenarios Multi-aircraft operations System Integration and Interoperability Integration with operational hand controllers Integration with operational Ground Control Stations (GCS) Support for multiple aircraft types Open architecture solutions Future aircra
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- The listed response deadline is Dec 22, 2026.
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