Navy awards 40 companies $982 million in USV component contracts

The Navy this week awarded dozens of companies contracts collectively worth up to $982 million to build various payloads and subsystems for its portfolio of unmanned surface vehicles.

The 40 selected companies received indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity multiple award contracts to compete for task orders from six functional areas: payloads, non-payload sensors, mission support systems, autonomy and vehicle control systems, ashore and host platform elements as well as logistics and sustainment, according to a Feb. 7 Navy statement.

"The IDIQ-MAC will serve as the primary contractual method to procure supplies and services used to design, develop, fabricate, prototype, integrate, test, maintain, and support multiple variants of USV systems and subsystems within the USV Family of Systems," the Navy statement reads.

Platforms the service will develop payloads for through the contracts include Sea Hunter, the Medium and Large USVs and the Mine Countermeasures USV.

"Current and planned systems include the Unmanned Influence Sweep System, surface towed sonar systems, and a mine neutralizing system that is still under development, along with their related subsystems and delivery systems," the Navy statement adds.