Unmanned Carrier-Based Aircraft Solutions Request for Information (RFI)
NAVAIR and air warfare centers · NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND
Capture briefs (a one-page, shareable copy of this page) are part of Pro. The CSV here holds the notice, its timeline and past awards.
Where this opportunity stands
Every notice posted under solicitation PAEA-UnmannedStratSS in this department, oldest first.
Next steps for this stage
Standard steps for the notice type; not advice about this buyer.
- Answer the notice: this is when the requirement can still be shaped.
- Contact the contracting officer named on the notice.
- Check who won similar work; they are the likely bidders.
What the notice says
The Portfolio Acquisition Executive (Aviation), PAE(A), is issuing this Sources Sought notice to conduct market research and identify potential industry sources capable of designing, developing, prototyping, manufacturing, and fielding next-generation Unmanned Carrier-Based Aircraft as part of the Naval Aviation Enterprise (NAE) Air Wing of the Future (AWOTF) Family of Systems (FoS) strategy aligned with the Golden Fleet initiative. Existing FoS efforts include MQ-25A and Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA). PAE Aviation is exploring the industrial base's capacity to deliver highly capable, au… (show all)
tonomous platforms optimized for operations from Ford-class and Nimitz-class Nuclear Aircraft Carriers (CVN). The Government is seeking concepts, with both technical and programmatic information, for air vehicle and mission systems capable of executing FoS missions from the CVN highlighted in Section 1.0, either as a single-role platform, a multi-role platform, or a modular FoS. The information will inform future requirements, investments, and acquisition decisions aligned with the Navy unmanned strategy. Interested parties are requested to submit a response in accordance with the attached document, "Unmanned Strategy Sources Sought." Responses shall be submitted electronically to the USN NAS Patuxent Mailbox at usn.patuxent.comnavairsyscompax.mbx.fcdi-marketplace@us.navy.mil, carbon copying (CC) the designated Contract Specialist, Samantha Moore, samantha.c.moore11.civ@us.navy.mil. All responses shall be submitted no later than 5:00 PM EST, 13 August 2026. The submission is limited to 10 pages, using Times New Roman 12-point font and single spacing. Accompanying PowerPoint presentations are welcome, not to exceed 20 slides with no videos. All information submitted should be unclassified.
Who won similar work
12 award notices on SAM.gov in the last 24 months. Matched by: Same office (NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND), same product/service code (PSC) AC13.
Single-winner award sizes (12): middle half $4.0M to $46.6M, median $17.0M; range $266K to $489.3M.
| Winner | Awards | Value | Last |
|---|---|---|---|
| THE BOEING COMPANY · $BA · $77.8B | 3 | $720.0M | Jun 29, 2026 |
| MARITIME SURVEILLANCE ASSOCIATES INC | 3 | $5.7M | Feb 25, 2026 |
| LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION · $LMT · $67.6B | 1 | $48.1M | Aug 29, 2025 |
| ROCKWELL COLLINS, INC. · $RTX · $68.9B | 1 | $46.1M | Oct 29, 2024 |
| L3 Technologies, Inc. · $LHX · $19.4B | 1 | $18.9M | Mar 24, 2025 |
| ADVANCED ACOUSTIC CONCEPTS, LLC | 1 | $15.2M | Jul 22, 2026 |
| RTX BBN TECHNOLOGIES, INC. | 1 | $12.9M | Jun 16, 2025 |
| PERSPECTA ENGINEERING INC | 1 | $1.1M | Mar 17, 2025 |
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. Revenue next to a ticker is the company's last annual revenue from its 10-K.
- $BA reported $77.8B revenue in FY2025. The median single-winner award in these 12 past awards, $17.0M, is under 0.1% of that. 10-K
- $LMT reported $67.6B revenue in FY2025. The median single-winner award in these 12 past awards, $17.0M, is under 0.1% of that. 10-K
- $RTX reported $68.9B revenue in FY2025. The median single-winner award in these 12 past awards, $17.0M, is under 0.1% of that. 10-K
- $LHX reported $19.4B revenue in FY2025. The median single-winner award in these 12 past awards, $17.0M, is under 0.1% of that. 10-K
One award's total value against one year of revenue; many awards are paid over several years.
- Jul 22, 2026ADVANCED ACOUSTIC CONCEPTS, LLC$15.2MCommon Acoustic Simulation Environment Fidelity Improvement (CASE-FI) Product EnhancementNo listed company matched (Materiality N/A)
- Jun 29, 2026THE BOEING COMPANY$21.6MMQ-25A CDS RTB v5.1 Increment 2 and Increment 3Materiality: 0.03% of $BA revenue (Low) SEC
- Mar 26, 2026THE BOEING COMPANY$209.0MGSI NGEAU Additional Non-Recurring Engineering (NRE) and SoftwareMateriality: 0.27% of $BA revenue (Low) SEC
- Mar 19, 2026THE BOEING COMPANY$489.3MGrowler Block 2 (GB2) Phase 2 Beowulf UCAMateriality: 0.63% of $BA revenue (Low) SEC
- Feb 25, 2026MARITIME SURVEILLANCE ASSOCIATES INC$5.0MUpgrades to Global Reconstruction and Acoustic Measurement Suite (GRAMS)No listed company matched (Materiality N/A)
- Aug 29, 2025LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION$48.1MLong Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) AGM-158C-3 Phase 3 Development and IntegrationMateriality: 0.07% of $LMT revenue (Low) SEC
- Jul 9, 2025MARITIME SURVEILLANCE ASSOCIATES INC$266KGlobal Reconstruction and Measurement System (GRAMS) EnhancementsNo listed company matched (Materiality N/A)
- Jul 9, 2025MARITIME SURVEILLANCE ASSOCIATES INC$415KBaseline Software Systems Engineering MGMT for Global Reconstruction and Measurement system (GRAMS)No listed company matched (Materiality N/A)
- Jun 16, 2025RTX BBN TECHNOLOGIES, INC.$12.9MGround Replay System Engineering Tool for ASWNo listed company matched (Materiality N/A)
- Mar 24, 2025L3 Technologies, Inc.$18.9MDesign, Development, Testing, Deployment, and Maintenance of Engineering Solutions for United States Navy (USN) ASW/USW Tactical Planning and Employment.Materiality: 0.10% of $LHX revenue (Low) SEC
Materiality: one award's value as a share of the winner's revenue over the latest 12 months in its SEC filings (or its last fiscal year, as noted when you point at it). Low under 1%, Medium 1 to 5%, High 5% or more. Many awards are paid over several years, so this overstates a single year's share.
Competitive landscape
For the 8 most frequent past winners above. Lobbying is matched by the company's exact name or exact ticker; agencies are as named on the filings.
- 2 of these past winners lobbied Navy, Dept of or U.S. Marines since 2024 (23 filings)
- 0 of their lobbyists list a past Navy, Dept of or U.S. Marines job
- $1.3M 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
- 0 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.
- 8 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. A sale marked 10b5-1 was made under a trading plan set up in advance.
- 4 of the past winners are listed companies
- 0 insider buys and 5 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.