US launches USV and UAS competition

The US Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has opened a competition seeking inexpensive uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) and UASs, as part of its efforts to reduce the cost of warfare. 

Currently, the US Navy “relies on exquisite, multi-million-dollar naval and aviation assets” when countering the “low-cost, low-signature threats” of adversaries, a competition notice published by the DIU on 29 July says.  

The new ‘Suitable Warfighting Adaptive Payloads’ competition therefore seeks “affordable” USV and UAS capabilities to lower the cost of sensing, targeting, and engaging these threats. 

What are the USV requirements? 

The USVs sought under this competition need to have a minimum range of “200 nautical miles and a sustained cruise speed of at least 10kt”, although the DIU expects the best solutions to exceed this baseline. 

The USVs should also be able to navigate towards chosen waypoints, conduct patrols, loiter, and reposition in accordance with mission objectives. 

All of this, the DIU says, must be possible regardless of whether the USV is deployed in “blue water, littoral, [or] brown water environments”.  

Additionally, the USVs need to be able to carry and deploy a “minimum of two UAS, collectively capable of kinetic strike with a minimum 2kg payload”. 

UAS requirements 

According to the DIU, the UASs sought under the competition should “support one or more operational effects”, such as communications relay, payload delivery, and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance activities, among others. 

A mixture of recoverable and single-use UAS variants are required. The recoverable variants should be capable of re-boarding the USV with as little intervention as possible. 

When it comes to the supplier, the DIU says it is looking to work with “established maritime manufacturers, autonomy developers, sensor manufacturers, and UAS developers” with existing production lines for both USVs and UAS. Concept designs are not being considered. 

Competition details 

This competition is the first sprint of a three-sprint challenge, set to span one year in total. Companies that do not participate in sprint one may still enter the two further sprints. 

For sprint one, up to USD40 million is available, with sprint two – expected to focus on expanded payloads and autonomy – having the same budget. Sprint three does not currently have a clear primary objective but has a projected budget of up to USD20 million.  

The deadline for applications for the first sprint is 10 August. 

The DIU says that a further USD200 million has been budgeted for potential prototyping or future production orders following the completion of the challenge.