U.S. Army Seeks Sources for 5GAT Prototype

The prototype could be used for flight testing of fifth-generation fighters.

Thursday, April 14, 2022 at 02:28 PM ET

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The SSN marks a circling back to a previous program that resulted in the 2020 delivery of the first fifth-generation aircraft (5GAT) at the Army's Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah. [Courtesy: U.S. Department of Defense]

Key Takeaways:

The U.S. Army is conducting market research for a full-scale aerial target prototype to test against fifth-generation aircraft.
The desired prototype must be affordable (under $50 million for two development aircraft, under $10 million unit flyaway cost), unmanned, low-observable, and capable of mimicking fifth-generation fighter signatures for up to 120 minutes.
This effort revives a previous 5GAT program that was canceled after a flight accident, and its technical design package may be made available to potential bidders.
An award for the development and integration testing of the new aerial target is anticipated in Fiscal Year 2023.

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The U.S. Army is conducting market research to identify potential candidates capable of developing a full-scale aerial target prototype for fifth-generation aircraft testing, it announced.

“The anticipated contract is for development and integration testing of an affordable, unmanned, low observable, model-based, full-scale aerial target prototype aircraft/s and support of the government-led ground and flight testing,” Army Contracting Command-Orlando said in a Sources Sought Notice (SSN) issued this week.