Patriot Group LLC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: AF211-DCSO1

Description

HC-130J Combat King II rescue aircraft play pivotal role in Combat Search and Rescue/Personnel Recovery and Domestic Rescue and Recovery operations in that they are long range, often first on-scene, and can deploy Pararescuemen (PJs) or supplies via airdrop or landing. They also support follow-on vertical lift rescue aircraft and can provide long duration over watch of an operation.  In other cases they may serve as on-scene commander for an operation and require robust BLOS communications throughout both defense and civilian command and control (C2) structures.  With an advanced Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) sensor, such as an AAQ-28(V) LITENING Gen 4 targeting pod, they can perform surveillance and reconnaissance for a combat rescue operation or natural disaster area while streaming video to a Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) or State Headquarters/State Emergency Management Agency. Providing live video, voice or data updates is critical and essential for decision makers in the chain of command both military and civilian, versus being reliant on just commercial newscasts or spotty voice and data traffic from various sources.  A wideband commercial SATCOM solution (COMSATCOM) will provide a persistent connection for first responder Rescue HC-130J’s versus high-demand, low bandwidth MILSATCOM that is not always available due to priorities, military satellite bandwidth and coverage, and the approval process.  The Airdyne Roll /On/Off Special Airborne Mission Installation and Response (SABIR) equipment is already approved for C-130 use and has been flying for over10 years. The LITENING pod is certified on numerous fighter, bomber, and special mission aircraft and has been in use for decades. The commercial BLOS equipment in this proposal that will stream the video from the targeting pod is also approved and in use with various C-130 aircraft and will include an overhead escape hatch mounted satellite antenna and a representative wideband satellite service to provide demonstration airtime.  Subsequent to a demonstration and a notional follow-on program, a notional antenna for fielding could use a low profile fuselage mounted wideband antenna with multi-band capability for both Commercial and Military satellites. This could provide maximum future capability as the DoD SATCOM enterprise grows and changes under US Space Force which states use of commercial SATCOM will be used to leverage DoD capabilities.