Overview
- BlackSea announced a purpose-built aluminum catamaran for the Modular Attack Surface Craft program, positioning it for the Navy’s new multimission USV effort.
- The company says the craft supports 67,200 pounds of payload, offers 900 square feet of open deck, provides 198 kWe of electrical power, ranges 3,000 nautical miles at 10 knots with a 10,000-nautical-mile self-deploying option, and reaches 25 knots.
- BlackSea says it can deliver a fully integrated prototype within six months by leveraging its Baltimore GARC production line, which it reports is producing one craft per day with roughly 75% subsystem commonality.
- The design is described as UMAA-native for plug-and-play autonomy integration and uses Volvo Penta D8-IPS600 propulsion on a twin-hull aluminum platform to support containerized payload operations.
- The Navy’s July request seeks three MASC variants centered on payload capacity, and the field of bidders is growing with Eureka Naval Craft signaling a submission of its AIRCAT Bengal-MC; no contract awards have been announced.