An artist rendering of Romulus, a Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel , designed by Huntington Ingalls Industries. (Huntington Ingalls Industries)
Seven entrants have been chosen to advance to the design prototyping phase for the Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel competition, the Navy said Tuesday.
“The selected industry partners must successfully complete at-sea demonstrations to prove the maturity of their systems,” said Capt. Ron Flanders, spokesman for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition.
The names of the designs chosen by the Navy will be released after all companies have confirmed their plans to move forward in the marketplace-style competition.
The seven designs were chosen from about two dozen submissions, the Navy said.
The unspecified shipbuilders will develop vessels that will be tested against Navy requirements for the robotic craft.
The Navy’s criteria call for a vessel with a range of at least 2,500 nautical miles and a speed of 25 knots. It must be able to operate in sea state 4, defined by the World Meteorological Organization as moderately rough seas with wave heights of up to 8 feet.
The vessel must be able to operate autonomously while carrying up to 25 metric tons of weapons or other cargo in at least two 40-foot-long shipping containers.
Shipbuilders that pass the benchmarks will receive $15 million and be eligible for production, the Navy said.
Huntington Ingalls Industries plans to submit its Romulus design, according to USNI News. Another firm, Saildrone, told Breaking Defense this year that it planned to submit a design to the competition.
The Navy plans to procure 36 Medium Unmanned Surface Vessels in Fiscal Year 2026, using some of the $5 billion set aside in the 2026 Reconciliation Act to enable marketplace contracting, in which companies would bear the cost of prototyping.
After successful at-sea demonstrations before October 2026, the Navy plans to work with industry to have vessels available for Navy leasing or procurement in Fiscal Year 2027.
“The Navy is looking forward to operationalizing new technologies that will deliver distributed lethality to the Fleet,” Flanders said.
