15 -- UC-35C AIRCRAFT GATM AVIONICS MODIFICATION

The Naval Air Systems Command has a requirement to upgrade two (2) UC-35C model aircraft to meet Global Air Traffic Management (GATM) mandates beginning December 2005. NAVAIR intends to procure this effort from the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Cessna Aircraft located in Wichita, Kansas. The UC-35 aircraft is an FAA type-certified commercial cargo/passenger transport aircraft modified with Navy required items. The Navy has procured two UC-35C and eleven UC-35D aircraft to-date from the OEM for the Marine Corps. The proposed effort would capitalize on the proprietary engineering and manufacturing capabilities of Cessna, the OEM. This procurement is to provide hardware, modification, system integration, installation, test and certification required to upgrade two UC-35C aircraft. The Marine UC-35 is a relatively new aircraft, a derivative of the Cessna Citation V Ultra/Encore, and was first introduced in 1999. Due to the UC-35’s short in-service history and limited deployment, Cessna is the only complete source of developmental, design, manufacturing, modification, and test certification data for the Navy’s UC-35 aircraft. Cessna is the only source for OEM data and drawings to support this avionics upgrade to the two UC-35C aircraft. No other source has access to the developmental information and engineering data and thus cannot provide the required support for the GATM modification and interface into the UC-35 cockpit avionics. Note 22!!