SAIC to work on robotic surface vessel that tracks submarines

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded Science Applications International Corp. a prime contract potentially worth $59 million for phases two through four of the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) program, the company said Nov. 12.

Under the contract, SAIC will continue the work it began under phase one of the program where it provided design services that resulted in the concept of a wave-piercing trimaran, the company said. Using that concept, SAIC will design, build and demonstrate an experimental vessel capable of independently deploying under sparse remote supervisory control that will enable it to achieve an ASW operational capability.

Phase two consists of the final design and production, phase three consists of construction of the prototype and phase four consists of government testing. 

The ACTUV program was established in response to a critical operational demand to deliver a prototype unmanned autonomous surface vessel capable of tracking a quiet diesel-electric submarine overtly for months over thousands of kilometers.

The single-award contract has a three-year period of performance for phases two and three valued at $58 million, and an 18-month option worth $1 million for phase four, the company said. 

Assisting the company are Oregon Iron Works and Christensen Shipyards, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Jet Propulsion Lab and Carnegie Mellon University. The work will be performed in nine states.