TAIPAN E3 TESTING PHASE 2

Concepts

• bristol
• defence services
• taipan e3 testing phase
• e3 testing none
• testing
• radar
• taipan e3
• taipan

Location

Bristol

Description

E3 TESTING

Award Detail

CPV Codes

• 75220000 - Defence services
• 35722000 - Radar

Indicators

• Award on basis of price and quality.

Legal Justification

The Artillery Systems Team within Defence Equipment and Support, part of the UK Ministry of Defence, intends to place a single source contract Malvern Optical to conduct E3 testing of the TAIPAN capability as part of the capability certification process required to gain SRO authorisation to introduce it into service. The Mobile Artillery Monitoring Battlefield (MAMBA) Mid Life Enhancement (MLE) is an equipment update project to address obsolescence issues with the current In-Service MAMBA fleet. The project will address obsolescence, in order to maintain MAMBA Weapon Locating System (WLS) capabilities until it's Out of Service Date (OSD) of Dec 2026. The MAMBA Radar locates and identifies enemy mortar, artillery, rocket firing positions and facilitates the delivery of timely and accurate counter fires. The project will be delivered by the Artillery Systems Delivery Team. The project is planning to provide Initial Operating Capability (IOC) by Quarter 2 FY 24/25 and will replace the current MAMBA Fleet which was procured as an Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) for operations in Afghanistan in 2002. The single-source justification for contracting Malvern Optical due to technical reasons is as follows: a. Height of the system + 2.93 m for Bowman antennas, Malvern Optical is the only accredited chamber that is large enough to accommodate the system and afford the required 0.3 m separation between tip of the Radiation Absorbent Material (RAM) and the tip of the antenna. b. Malvern Optical are the only accredited facility for Antenna Radiation Patterns. c. Malvern Optical are the only accredited facility for SINAD and MEMIC measurements: d. DRE04 measurements need to be taken at the same facility as this feeds SINAD and MEMIC frequency selection. e. TacCIS ID&C testing of VSWR and RF bonding from other facilities has identified issues with measurement technique and measurement locations which effectively voids most (if not all) testing and any opportunity for read across to similar platforms. This is because other facilities are automotive-centric, whereas Malvern Optical are communications-centric (which is the whole purpose of the ID&C testing).