The U.S. Navy has issued a solicitation for a contract to design, develop and fabricate two prototypes under the Large Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicle program.
The program executive office for unmanned and small combatants at Naval Sea Systems Command expects to receive proposals for the LDUUV program, also called Snakehead, in early 2021, the service said Wednesday.
Snakehead is a multimission, long-endurance UUV intended for deploying reconfigurable payloads. The UUV is designed to be fielded from submarines and initial vehicles that will be developed under the LDUUV program will be used to conduct Intelligence Preparation of the Operating Environment missions.
NAVSEA designated the program as a maritime accelerated acquisition and expects to award the contract in fiscal year 2021.
Representatives from over 50 companies participated in a two-day virtual industry day held in June and NAVSEA used feedback from the event to come up with a draft request for proposals, which was released on Oct. 29.
