The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (OUSD), Research and Engineering (R&E) Joint Hypersonics Transition Office (JHTO), in partnership with Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) and the UCAH, is soliciting for Prototype Project Proposals (PPPs) supporting projects that will accelerate hypersonics technology development, develop the nation’s future hypersonics workforce, and facilitate the transition of ready technologies into operational capabilities. The project topic descriptions are listed in Section 2 of this document. The JHTO reserves the right to fund none, some, or all the submissions made in response to this RPP. Furthermore, JHTO may choose to fund a portion of a submission or a combination of submissions. No funding for direct reimbursement of PPP development costs will be provided. Any references within this document to the UCAH website, specific to this RPP Project Call, will utilize the following website: https://hypersonics.tamu.edu/project-call/.
JHTO in partnership with the UCAH are interested in receiving Challenge PPPs for the following areas (See the RFP for details) :
- TOPIC 1: Thermal Energy Harvesting
- The Joint Hypersonics Transition Office (JHTO) is soliciting innovative proposals in the topic area of thermal energy harvesting. The specific area of interest is generation of electrical power by leveraging the high temperature thermal environment present in hypersonic systems. Approaches should consider the size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements for these systems and should improve upon the SWaP for analogous battery or generator systems. Additionally, approaches should be broadly applicable across different hypersonic platforms including boost-glide and air-breathing cruise vehicles.
- TOPIC 2: Implementation and Validation of Navigation, Guidance, and Control Algorithms
- The Joint Hypersonics Transition Office (JHTO) is soliciting proposals for the development of navigation, guidance, and control (NG&C) algorithms and their implementation in flight ready hardware. Of particular interest are system-agnostic hardware in the loop (HWIL) approaches and testing of NG&C software and components on relevant processing and flight control hardware in simulated realistic mission scenarios.
- TOPIC 3: Controllable Propellants and Energetics
- The Joint Hypersonics Transition Office (JHTO) is soliciting innovative proposals in the development of propellants and energetics that can be tuned and controlled through chemistry, geometry, manufacturing processes, external stimuli, or a combination. The tuning effect should allow for improved control, extinguishing, or enhanced energy release of the energetic or propellant to achieve a desirable effect.
- TOPIC 4: Low Cost Ground and Flight Testing Enablers
- The Joint Hypersonics Transition Office (JHTO) is soliciting innovative proposals in the topic area of novel, low-cost ground and flight testing approaches and enabling technologies. Novel test approaches and methodologies should facilitate the rapid technology maturation and insertion into weapon systems that is not possible today due to technical and access limitations for existing facilities.
- TOPIC 5: Novel Aperture and Radome Designs for High-Mach Operation
- The Joint Hypersonics Transition Office (JHTO) is soliciting proposals for innovative designs that achieve increased aperture and radome performance and robustness in extreme environments or enable rapid development and testing of future designs.
Applicant Eligibility:
Candidate must be a University Consortium Member prior to submitting a Notice of Intent (NOI), as described in Section 3.3.1 of this document. All Awardees shall maintain their Consortium Membership, in good standing, for the duration of the PSA.
Affiliate Consortium Members are not eligible to respond to this RPP as the lead institution, but may team with an eligible University Consortium Member and be funded accordingly. Affiliate Consortium Members include industry, laboratories, University-Affiliated Research Centers (UARCs), and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), U.S. Military Academies, and Universities (on a case-by-case basis) from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. University Consortium Candidates and team members are generally responsible for determining the extent to which their participation in PPP submissions is appropriate and consistent with their own entities’ authorities and applicable laws, regulations, and policies. Submissions including an FFRDC, however, must include a statement from the FFRDC representing (1) that their participation in the competition is consistent with federal law and policy as well as their governing contract(s) (2) the rationale under which they are able participate in the competition given restrictions on FFRDCs competing with the private sector.
Candidates and teaming partners must be capable of safeguarding information and complying with export controls consistent with federal law and policy. Awarded PSAs are expected to include controlled unclassified information (CUI); export-controlled items or information subject to Arms Export Control Act, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, the Export Administration Act of 1979, as amended, and the Export Administration Regulations; and/or Distribution Statement C information.
As a general matter, all participants must be United States citizens. Participation of foreign member universities and individuals may be permitted on a case-by-case basis. However, a candidate and its teaming partners must be capable of complying with any and all safeguarding requirements and export controls associated with any such entities/individual’s participation.
Candidates must disclose any actual or potential conflicts of interest. Failure to disclose a conflict of interest or conflicts of interest that cannot be satisfactorily mitigated may result in removal from the competition.
External Application Process
The external application process has changes from past UCAH RPP's. A White Paper is no longer required. Only a mandatory NOI and the full Prototype Project Proposal is required as follows.
- In order to be eligible to submit a PPP for consideration, a PPP Notice of Intent (NOI) shall be submitted no later than September 11, 2023 5:00 PM EST, through the UCAH website for this RPP Project Call. The submitted NOI shall include, on a cover page, the Topic Number and a full list of participants to include: 1) each person anticipated to support the proposed project (listed with their name and current institutions/organization), and 2) all institutions, organizations, laboratories, etc. anticipated to support the proposed project.
- PPPs shall be submitted through the UCAH website for this RPP Project Call and shall be received no later than November 1, 2023 at 5:00 PM EST. Submissions received after the deadline will not be considered. Each PPP is still limited to a maximum of four PIs. No university exceeds leading three PPPs.
Period of Performance: Three-year with an anticipated start date of May 1, 2024
Interested applicants must upload the following information by 4:00 PM on the internal deadline
1. Cover Sheet (1 page, pdf) to include:
- Project Title
- Topic Number (from Section 2 of RPP)
- Applicant Organization
- Primary Technical Point of Contact (POC), including name, address, phone and email contact information
- Co-PI(s) names and institutions
- Institutions, organizations, and laboratories antiipated to support the project
- Title and number of this funding opportunity
2. Technical Requirements (no more than three pages) to include:
- Background and Benefits of Proposed Solution as related to the Topic Area
- Technical Approach, including clearly defined prototype solution
3. 1-page biosketch of Investigators
Formatting Guidelines:
Font/size: Times New Roman (11 pt. minimum)
Document margins: 1.0” (top, bottom, left and right)
Standard paper size (8 ½” x 11)