Air Force Materiel Command is seeking information on capabilities that would allow air traffic controllers to work remotely. In a request for information issued Wednesday, AFMC said it wants industry help in the analysis of potential alternatives that “would provide a remote Air Traffic Control tower capability as a potential replacement for standard ‘brick and mortar’ towers.” The system would include a sensor suite with enhanced optical, infrared, motion, sound detection, and tracking capabilities that is connected to a separate, but secure and geographically close, ATC operations center. The request notes a smaller system could be forward deployed for military or natural disaster contingencies. Responses to the RFI are due by Sept. 30.
The Air Force will look to the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in a closed solicitation that will create the Air Force's first university-affiliated research center (UARC), Air Force leaders said. The center will study tactical autonomy. The DAF will select the center's location from one of 11…