US Navy agrees to buy 30 Medium Unmanned Surface Vessels

The US Navy is urging the testing and development of Medium Unmanned Surface Vessels, like the one shown here. (Janes/Michael Fabey)

The US Navy (USN) awarded other transaction authority (OTA) agreements to Galliano Marine Services, HII, and Saronic Technologies for 10 Medium Unmanned Surface Vessels (MUSVs) from each company at an average cost of about USD40 million per MUSV, USN officials confirmed on 29 September.

An exact cost breakdown for each company was not provided.

“The production will begin immediately at shipyards with deliveries starting as early as the fourth quarter of [fiscal year (FY)] 2027,” Chris Miller, USN acting direct reporting portfolio manager for Robotic and Autonomous Systems, told reporters during a briefing about the OTA awards.

The awards follow the recent completion of Phase I at-sea testing for the MUSVs, and were based on what Miller called the “the optimal mix of autonomy performance, design, production schedule, and cost”.

MUSVs from Leidos, PacMar Technologies, and Sea Machines were also deemed to have completed the work required under the Phase 1 requirements, but did not receive production OTAs, USN officials noted.

Each of the six companies that met the Phase 1 requirements will receive a USD15 million award and will be in the Drones.mil hosted Maritime Marketplace, where they are now eligible to receive follow-on production agreements from authorised acquisition authorities across the US Department of Defense, USN officials noted.

For Phase 1, the MUSVs had to operate for about 26 hours and more than 360 n miles with a single input during that time from a command-and-control (C2) station, Miller said during the briefing.