Two Maritime Firms Sue Navy Over Exclusion From MUSV Program

Overview

• Blue Water Autonomy and Saildrone filed complaints in late June that were unsealed in mid-July, alleging the Navy improperly excluded their Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel proposals from the MUSV marketplace.
• Blue Water is asking a court to halt the Navy’s at-sea testing and use of program funds until its proposal is reevaluated, while Saildrone seeks a lawful reevaluation but does not ask to stop testing for other participants.
• Saildrone says its Spectre design met or exceeded the MUSV criteria and earned American Bureau of Shipping certification in December 2025, and Blue Water says its Liberty was selected for the Navy’s predecessor MASC prototyping effort before that program was canceled.
• The Navy already picked seven companies to move into prototype sea trials that are to conclude by the end of 2026 and has funding and plans to buy dozens of MUSVs under recent appropriations, which could lead to follow-on production awards.
• Key parts of the complaints are redacted, the Navy declined to comment on pending litigation, and a court decision could delay vendor qualification, at-sea testing, and the federal contracts that depend on those results.