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The Navy is putting out a call for a new type of unmanned surface vessel capable of carrying large payloads — including missiles — thousands of miles in support of manned warships, according to a solicitation issued Monday.
Created to address the service’s need for a “fast, high-capacity, embarked payloads platform,” the Modular Attack Surface Craft program seeks to develop a high-endurance USV.. The Navy identified three vessel concepts varying in capability. The most relevant to the service’s requirements is a solution for an unmanned ship that can support a payload of two 40-foot ISO containers and cruise at a sailing speed of 25 knots for up to 2,500 nautical miles in sea state four. The other two concepts examine different payloads, from one to four ISO containers without specifying range or speed. The Navy wants responses to the solicitation by Aug. 11.
Alongside the USVs, the solicitation’s problem statement said that the unmanned maritime systems program office, known as PMS 406, would address the service’s requirements for containerized payload solutions. In recent years, the Navy has turned to container-deployed missile systems, such as the Lockheed Martin Mk 70 Payload Delivery System, to up-gun Littoral Combat Ships and conduct missile tests from Ghost Fleet USVs.
“The Department intends to swiftly prototype and demonstrate one or more MASC USVs capable of embarking containerized payloads. This prototype will seamlessly maneuver with other Navy surface vessels or operate independently,” reads a program document.
A separate request for information on future USVs released earlier this month said these new concepts should be able to support numerous missions from their containerized payloads, including “Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Targeting (ISR&T), Information Operations (IO) missions, and serve as an adjunct magazine.” The last mission could support the fleet’s manned warships, with the USVs acting as missile carriers.
The prototype Modular Attack Surface Craft should be ready within 18 months of the contract award, and include relevant command and control, autonomy software, and other subsystems.
The Navy stressed that the USVs should be a “non-exquisite vessel design.” The solicitation emphasized that the platform should have commonality with commercial standards to maintain, repair and build at multiple shipyards and support scaling production. The documents also call for solutions that would be compatible with partners and allies for foreign military sales and with International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
The U.S. has eyed USVs to bolster and support its fleet amid the rise of the People’s Liberation Army Navy in the Indo-Pacific, with concepts such as Hellscape emerging that envision an unmanned and autonomous fleet of vessels intercepting Chinese efforts in the event of a conflict over Taiwan.
