Darwin McDaniel
The U.S. Air Force has issued a request for information on potential vendors of spacecraft buses that can facilitate military satellite communications for future missions in space.
USAF said Wednesday in a FedBizOpps notice it looks to procure and deploy buses on new satcom platforms designed to support protected strategic communications, overhead persistent infrared for missile warning and GPS for position, navigation and timing and nuclear detection system.
Selected contractors will work with the Space and Missile Systems Center to build enterprise buses with a modular design.
The military service noted it plans to stand a consortium of bus and payload providers to create a standard interface specification for spacecraft buses and mission payloads.
Industry input could help the branch determine the feasibility, application and procurement options for the sought technology.
Vendors can submit responses to the RFI notice through April 3.
