The U.S. Navy released a request for proposals for the design, development, test, and production of the Medium Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (MUUV) May 21.
The solicitation will support the next generation of the Program Executive Office Unmanned and Small Combatants Unmanned Maritime Systems Program Office, Razorback Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) and the Naval Sea Systems Command Expeditionary Missions Program Office, Maritime Expeditionary Mine Countermeasures UUV (MEMUUV) system.
The MUUV will be a modular, open systems, and open architecture UUV. In the Razorback Torpedo Tube Launch & Recovery (TTL&R) configuration, it will provide submarine-based autonomous oceanographic sensing and data collection in support of intelligence preparation of the operational environment. In the MEMUUV configuration, it will provide persistent surface-launched and -recovered mine countermeasures (MCM).
The notional MUUV will contain a common baseline vehicle architecture, including sensors and components, for the submarine and expeditionary configurations. Launch-and-recovery systems will reflect each configuration’s unique requirements and missions.
The MEMUUV is designed for launch from Navy and Marine Corps surface vessels, vessels of opportunity or land-based forward operating bases. The Razorback derives from the Navy’s submarine-launched Littoral Battlespace Sensing Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (Submarine) effort which has two deployment configurations: Dry Deck Shelter and TTL&R. Only TTL&R variants are included in the current solicitation.
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This article was originally published by the US Navy.
