The Department of Defense, specifically the United States Air Force (USAF), is seeking proposals for the B61-12 Tail Kit Assembly Modular Avionics Retrofit under the SBIR program. The objective is to assess the current technical baseline of the B61-12 TKA for potential hardware and software retrofitting opportunities, utilizing modular standards such as VITA 46 VPX and the Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA). This initiative is crucial for enhancing system capabilities, ensuring cybersecurity, and fostering competition in response to the Great Power Competition. The solicitation is currently in the pre-release phase, with an open date of January 8, 2025, and a close date of February 5, 2025. Interested parties can find more information and submit proposals through the official SBIR website.

## Description

The B61-12 TKA technical baseline is in full sustainment. The program office can perform life of type buys and sustain a legacy technical baseline or retrofit the hardware and software of the TKA into a more modular technical baseline. The program office needs a complete analysis and limited prototyping in embedded containerization and embedded hypervisors to understand what opportunities for retrofit are available to transition to open standard architecture while maintaining system capabilities. Implementing modern software methodologies like containerization and hypervisors enables software portability to new hardware and inclusion of additional cybersecurity measures like zero-trust. Implementation of a modular hardware baseline opens opportunities for horizontal integration across mission areas and Services. The result of these strategies is to build a more resilient technical baseline, while increasing competition, and integrating capabilities to address the Great Power Competition.

## Objective

This topic seeks to assess the B61-12 Tail Kit Assembly (TKA) technical baseline for hardware and software retrofit opportunities leveraging modular standards such as VITA 46 VPX or VITA 74 VNX base standards, Hardware Open Systems Technologies (HOST) and Open Group's Sensor Open System Architecture (SOSA). The assessments would result in the prototyping of an Avionics Upgrade Kit for the B61-12 TKA that would meet newly defined open system architecture standards.

## Phase I

As this is a Direct-to-Phase-II (D2P2) topic, no Phase I awards will be made as a result of this topic. To qualify for this D2P2 topic, the Air Force expects the applicant(s) to demonstrate feasibility by means of a prior &ldquo;Phase I-type&rdquo; effort that does not constitute work undertaken as part of a prior or ongoing SBIR/STTR funding agreement. Applicant(s) will have to demonstrate at a minimum a proof of feasibility study building flexible user interface framework that allows for custom UI development based on a user&rsquo;s mission case scenario. The system should show that it is flexible enough to allow third parties to compose multiple workflows/widgets, without new programming. It is strongly preferred that the solution takes into account human factor elements representation for user mission case scenarios and tested such interfaces against real/notional representational graphical mission use cases scenario. Activities would include architecture design, integration roadmap, definitive solution space descriptions and analysis of alternatives.

## Phase II

1. Assess B61-12 technical baseline (hardware &amp; software) for &ldquo;retrofit&rdquo; opportunities. 2. Assess rehosting software on modern processors leveraging a modular standard such as VITA 46 or 74 and the USAF Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA). a. Technologies to explore include but are not limited to: i. Embedded containerization. ii. seL4 embedded hypervisors. b. Assess performance limitations of rehosting software (timing, interoperability, etc.) 3. Assess impacts to nuclear certification (radiation hardening, design assurance levels, etc.) 4. Perform limited prototyping and risk reduction to rehost B61-12 monolithic Operation Flight Program (OFP_ inside an embedded container and on a modern processor architecture.

## Phase III: Dual Use Applications

AFNWC will transition developed technologies and/or prototypes to a Phase III using the B61-12 sustainment program and Future Year Defense Program (FYDP) funding.

B61-12 Tail Kit Assembly Modular Avionics Retrofit

SBIR Opportunity Analysis

SBIR Documents

Related SBIR/STTR Opportunities

Opportunity Snapshot

Key Dates