Navy awards contract for unmanned sea mine hunter

Raytheon has received a potential $362.7 million contract to develop an autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle for the Navy to use in the detection and mitigation of sea mines.

Dubbed “Barracuda,” the drone is intended to neutralize sea mines at the bottom and near surface areas of waters, plus those that are drifting. The Navy also sought a vehicle that could operate in shallow waters and be an expendable modular neutralizer with a kill mechanism, propulsion and sensors.

The four-year contract has an $83.3 million base value with options that if exercised would bring the award to its full ceiling value, the Defense Department said in its Tuesday contracts digest.

Barracuda will also be built with a communications buoy to link with a deployment platform via a wireless connection.

Solicitation documents indicate Barracuda will be hosted on Littoral Combat Ship vessels.