MEDIUM UNMANNED SURFACE VEHICLES (MUSVs)

Abstract

Projects under this Program Element provide resources for the unmanned platforms in the Navy's Future Surface Combatant Force (FSCF), Medium Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MUSV), Sea Hunter, and Seahawk. Medium Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MUSV) is defined as having a reconfigurable mission capability which is accomplished via modular payloads with an initial capability to support Battlespace Awareness through supporting Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Targeting (ISR-&T), Counter_ISR&T, and Information Operations (IO) mission areas. MUSVs provide affordable, high endurance, reconfigurable ships able to accommodate various payloads for unmanned missions and augment the Navy's manned surface force. MUSVs will be capable of semi-autonomous operation, with operators' in-the-loop or on-the-loop. USV Command and Control (C2) will be maintained via an afloat element (i.e., embarked on a United States Navy (USN) combatant/other assigned afloat asset) or via an ashore element (C2 station ashore). While unmanned surface vehicles are new additions to fleet units, MUSV is intended to combine robust and proven commercial vessel specifications with existing military payloads to rapidly and affordably expand the capacity and capability of the surface fleet. The MUSV program leverages years of investment and full scale demonstration efforts in autonomy, endurance, command and control, payloads, and testing from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV), Office of Naval Research (ONR) Medium Displacement Unmanned Surface Vehicle (MDUSV)/Sea Hunter (FY 2017 to FY 2021), and Office of the Secretary of Defense Strategic Capabilities Office (OSD SCO) Ghost Fleet Overlord Large USV experimentation effort (FY 2018 to FY 2021). The combination of fleet-ready C2 solutions developed by the Ghost Fleet Overlord program and initial man-in-the-loop or man-on-the-loop control will reduce the risk of fleet integration of unmanned surface vehicles and allow autonomy and payload technologies to develop in parallel with fielding vehicles with standardized interfaces.

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Document Details

Document Type
R2 Budgetary Justification
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2024
Source ID
0605512N_4_1319_PB_2024
Change Summary Explanation
Program Change: Technical: Not applicable Schedule: Not applicable Cost: FY22: -$2.148M SBIR/STTR/FTT Assessment (SBIR) FY23: -$17.557M Direct Congressional reduction, -$0.477 general Congressional reduction FY24: -8.500M MUSV program realignment; +$0.491M Miscellaneous adjustments
Service Agency Name
Navy

Entities

Organizations

  • United States Navy

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • C4I
  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Command And Control
  • Contractors
  • Contracts
  • Control Systems
  • Engineering
  • Fleet Exercises
  • Information Operations
  • Lessons Learned
  • Navy
  • Procurement
  • Product Development
  • Situational Awareness
  • Systems Engineering
  • Unmanned Surface Vehicles
  • Unmanned Systems
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Maritime and Naval Warfare Studies
  • Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Autonomous Capabilities and Mission Reconnaissance.

Technology Areas

  • Autonomy
  • Autonomy - UAVs
  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control

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