The U.S. Navy has awarded a fixed-price-incentive-firm-target contract to L3Harris Technologies Unmanned Maritime Systems division to design and manufacture a single prototype Medium Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MUSV). Contract options allow for the purchase of up to eight additional MUSVs, logistics packages, engineering support, technical data, and other direct costs – with a ceiling value of the award at $294M.
The MUSV program will provide the fleet with pier-launched, self-deploying, modular surface vessels that will be capable of navigating and carrying out their missions autonomously. MUSVs will support the Navy’s ability to produce, deploy and disburse intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and electronic warfare capabilities, and provide/improve distributed situational awareness and sensing to the battle force. The MUSV will be 45 to 190 feet (~13 – 58 meters) long, with displacement of about 500 tons (~450,000 kilos).
“The award of Medium USV is the culmination of a great dialogue with industry to right-size the requirements for a capable, reliable, and affordable unmanned surface vehicle that will employ a variety of modular payloads,” said Capt. Pete Small, the MUSV program manager. “Leveraging new rapid prototyping authorities and mature commercial technology will allow us to quickly deliver a capable prototype to the Surface Development Squadron to conduct experimentation and learning in support of the Navy’s plans for a future fleet incorporating unmanned vessels.”
The delivery of the first prototype is scheduled for FY2023. The Medium Unmanned Surface Vehicles (MUSVs) are one of the three new types of unmanned vehicles (UVs) that are being sought by the U.S. Navy, with the others being Large Unmanned Surface Vehicles (LUSVs), and Extra-Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (XLUUVs).