Overview
- The Navy awarded production Other Transaction Authority agreements on Sept. 29 to Galliano Marine Services, Huntington Ingalls Industries and Saronic Technologies for 10 MUSVs each, creating a 30-vessel buy.
- The service put the average procurement cost at about $40 million per hull and said initial deliveries could begin as early as the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2027.
- Leidos, PacMar Technologies and Sea Machines each received $15 million and were added to the Defense Department’s drones.mil maritime marketplace after completing Phase I testing while Birdon did not meet the test criteria.
- Phase II opened on Sept. 23 to broaden vessel types and relax some Phase I requirements that called for high speed, 2,500-nautical-mile range and large payloads, and the solicitation aims to widen competition and producibility.
- Two excluded firms, Blue Water Autonomy and Saildrone, have filed lawsuits alleging selection irregularities, a legal risk that could affect program tempo even as the Navy bets on regional Gulf Coast shipyards and OTAs to scale production.