Navy planning June T-AGOS(X) industry day

The Navy is planning to hold an industry day in late June to replace four small waterplane twin hull (SWATH) ships, according to a May 29 Federal Business Opportunities notice.

"The replacement SWATH program will recapitalize and improve upon the existing capability provided by four T-AGOS 19 class and one T-AGOS 23 class ships with seven total new vessels planned," the notice states.

The June 26 event will inform industry about the program's anticipated schedule and technical requirements. The service previously issued a request for information concerning the new vessel, T-AGOS(X), in October 2017 and a follow-up RFI in April 2019, according to the FBO notice.

The four legacy vessels are civilian-operated, ocean surveillance ships that support anti-submarine warfare.

"The two classes of surveillance ships use surveillance towed-array sensor system equipment to gather undersea acoustic data. The ships also carry electronic equipment to process and transmit that data via satellite to shore stations for evaluation," according to a Navy webpage describing the ships.

Recapitalizing auxiliary ships has become a higher priority for the Navy as of late following warnings from lawmakers and U.S. Transportation Command officials. Meanwhile, Congress is mulling multiple options for how the Navy should go about recapitalizing the surge sealift fleet.