SAM #05a44b382ba24fc493c190086e6f0672

Army Seeks Feedback on Draft Militarized USB-C Connector Specification

The U.S. Army is seeking public feedback on a draft military specification for a ruggedized USB-C connector, not requesting a purchase. - Agency and activity: U.S. Army Contracting Command–Aberdeen Proving Ground, Natick (W6QK ACC-APG Natick), through the Program Manager–Protection and Integration (PM-PI). - Notice purpose: Request for Information (RFI) seeking comments on the second draft of MIL-DTL-32812 for Militarized USB-C (USB-CM); this is not a solicitation or contract award. - Design under review: A government-owned, nonproprietary ruggedized connector design intended as a standard interface for military equipment operating in terrestrial, maritime, air, and space environments. - Feedback requested: Connector design, manufacturability, integration into vendor products, cost, limitations, durability, corrosion resistance, materials, and tradeoffs involving data rates and power levels. - Response format: Comments are requested by email in Word or PDF format. The draft specification is provided as an attachment; no purchase quantities, vendors, or products and services for procurement are identified.

Description

THIS IS A REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) ONLY.  This is not a Request for Quotation (RFQ), Request for Proposal (RFP) or an Invitation for Bid (IFB).

The Program Manager – Protection and Integration (PM-PI) is seeking feedback on draft #2 of Military Detail document aka MIL-DTL for a new design for military connections.  This draft incorporated comments from draft #1 and is subject to change based on relevant feedback and other developmental milestones of the program.

Militarized USB-C aka “USB-CM” is an environmentally hardened connection built to survive military environments.  The connector supports power and data requirements and supports USB standards unless specifically stated otherwise.  This government owned design is intended to provide a standard interface for military equipment and is not proprietary.  USB-CM is intended to provide a reliable and ruggedized standard connector for users across the Department of War in their deployed terrestrial, maritime: surface and sub-surface, air, and space operational environment(s).

PM-PI is looking for public feedback on the second draft of MIL-DTL document including, but not limited to: USB-CM connector design, manufacturability, ability to integrate into vendor products, cost considerations, any perceived limitations of use, durability and corrosion resistance, materials, etc.  It is encouraged that comments include tradeoffs in metrics, such as cost/data/design/testing as it relates to data rate and power levels.

This is a refined second draft incorporating previous feedback.  Please send all further comments to USB-CMilitary@army.mil.  MS word or PDF is the preferred format.

The draft MIL-DTL including design and detailed performance characteristics, can be found in the Attachments section of this posting. 

This Request for Information is associated with:

RFI: Feedback on Draft MIL-DTL for Militarized USB-C (USB-CM) Connections dated 13 April 2026

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