AOI 27-A001 Resilient Airborne Free-Space Optical Communications Turret
NIWC (Naval Information Warfare) · NIWC ATLANTIC
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Where this opportunity stands
Every notice posted under solicitation 27-A001 in this department, oldest first.
- Oct 7, 2026 · this noticeSolicitation
Next steps for this stage
Standard steps for the notice type; not advice about this buyer.
- Decide bid or no bid before the response deadline.
- Look at the past winners for likely competitors and teaming partners.
- Follow the opportunity to hear about amendments and the award.
What the notice says
The advent of high-threat Electronic Warfare (EW) and Global Positioning System (GPS) or Radio Frequency (RF)-denied operational domains poses an immediate risk to Department of Navy (DoN), Marine Corps, and joint aerial and maritime fleet operations. Modern tactical concepts�such as Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO) and Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2)�demand ultra-high-bandwidth communications and high-precision timing synchronization across dynamic, multi-domain nodes without reliance on vulnerable RF spectra or satellite navigation. Precision optical clock synchronization a… (show all)
nd free-space optical communications (FSOC) offer timing holdover improvements and superior timing synchronization in GPS-denied environments, and high-speed low-probability-of-intercept/lowprobability-of-detection communication links. However, transitioning optical time transfer and FSOC from benign ground laboratories to highdynamic flight environments presents severe aero-optical and mechanical barriers. Dynamic aircraft boundary layers, trans-sonic shock structures, aero-optical phase aberrations, basemotion jitter, and stringent airframe size, weight, power (SWaP), and aerodynamic drag constraints disrupt beam coherence and line-of-sight tracking. Furthermore, existing commercial optical gimbals lack the structural airworthiness certifications, thermal/pressure shock resilience, fine pointing, acquisition, and tracking/PAT (PAT) closed-loop rejection required for host aircraft integration. NIWC Atlantic seeks to prototype and demonstrate a flight-certified, aero-optically resilient dual-turret optical communications and optical time-transfer system operable across ground, littoral, and multi-altitude airborne regimes.
Who won similar work
3 award notices on SAM.gov in the last 24 months. Match: Same agency (NIWC (Naval Information Warfare)), same NAICS 541715.
| Winner | Awards | Value | Last |
|---|---|---|---|
| PRESCIENT EDGE CORPORATION | 1 | $59.3M | May 4, 2026 |
| BOOZ ALLEN HAMILTON INC · $BAH | 1 | $7.5M | Sep 24, 2026 |
| SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH CORPORATION | 1 | $7.1M | Sep 24, 2026 |
Value counts single-winner awards. "Shared" awards are multiple-award contracts that list every winner with the same total ceiling; that ceiling is not one company's win, so it is not added in.
- Sep 24, 2026BOOZ ALLEN HAMILTON INC$7.5MSynopsis of Task Order Award and Justification of Fair Opportunity Exception
- Sep 24, 2026SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH CORPORATION$7.1MN66001-21-D-0074_N66001-25-F-0984
- May 4, 2026PRESCIENT EDGE CORPORATION$59.3MAward Notice
Competitive landscape
For the 3 most frequent past winners above. Lobbying is matched by the company's exact name or exact ticker; agencies are as named on the filings.
- 0 of these past winners lobbied Navy, Dept of or U.S. Marines since 2024 (0 filings)
- 0 of their lobbyists list a past Navy, Dept of or U.S. Marines job
- $76K from their corporate PACs since 2024 to members of House Committee on Appropriations, House Committee on Armed Services, Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senate Committee on Armed Services
- 1 foreign-agent (FARA) registrations
Policy around it
Bills the past winners named while lobbying this agency's issues, rules from the department, and executive orders that name the agency, last 12 months.
- 0 bills named on the past winners' lobbying filings
- 32 rules from the department in the last 12 months
- 0 executive orders naming the agency in the last 12 months
Market
For past winners matched exactly to a listed company. Insider trades are open-market buys and sells (Form 4) in the last 90 days, shown as facts; our own study found insiders do not reliably buy ahead of awards.
- 1 of the past winners are listed companies
- 0 insider buys and 1 insider sells at them in the last 90 days
Sources: SAM.gov notices and award notices; Senate LDA lobbying filings; FEC filings; FARA; Federal Register; congress.gov; SEC Form 4. Every row above links to its record.
Companies are matched to tickers by exact name only. A company we could not match shows no market rows; that is a miss, not a finding.