Navy seeks participants for autonomous cargo UAS exercise prior to ANTX

As part of the run up to its annual technology exercise, the Navy is seeking industry participants for an experiment using autonomous unmanned aerial systems to transport cargo between ship and shore, according to a Nov. 27 Federal Business Opportunities notice.

The "limited objective experiment" will take place in the Patuxent River, MD, area in March, several months prior to the Advanced Naval Technology Exercise in August. That exercise is an annual event the Navy hosts to observe industry demonstrations of upcoming technologies.

"The United States Navy desires the capability to autonomously deliver cargo with an unmanned aerial system between shore-to-ship, ship-to-ship, and ship-to-shore," the notice states.

"This experiment will be conducted as part of an Advanced Naval Technology Exercise and will be used to assess the state of the art of autonomous cargo-UAS technology," the noticed continues.

During the experiment, the UAV must autonomously launch from ashore and navigate through two waypoints to a towed barge no less than 25 nautical miles away while carrying a 50-pound payload. The vehicle must "loiter" for 10 minutes, land on the barge and then autonomously launch again and return to shore.

"The air vehicle must make the round trip without refueling (refueling or recharging will not be permitted aboard the barge). Participants must provide a refueling/recharging demonstration at the shore site after landing," the notice states.

Responses to this request for participants are due Jan. 4.