{"id":13503,"date":"2026-07-09T20:24:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T20:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/navy-teases-next-step-in-key-drone-boat-program\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T20:24:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T20:24:47","slug":"navy-teases-next-step-in-key-drone-boat-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/navy-teases-next-step-in-key-drone-boat-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Navy teases next step in key drone boat program"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>The Navy plans to launch the next phase of its marketplace for high-capacity, medium-sized drone boats on August 1, according to a contract notice.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The medium unmanned surface vessel, or MUSV, program \u201cuses modular design principles to create adaptable and resilient solutions that can effectively counter evolving threats,\u201d the July 7 notice states. \u201cInterested parties with expertise in vessel construction, autonomy, perception systems and complex maritime problem solving experience are invited to participate in this opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, the Navy changed its approach to buying medium unmanned surface vessels, favoring a marketplace format and spurring a competition and sea trials.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The coming request for prototype proposals will have \u201cdetailed requirements for high-capacity MUSV solutions used for logistics support and capable of transporting containerized payloads,\u201d the Navy wrote in the notice.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The announcement comes as the Pentagon stands up new oversight for autonomous systems across all the services, with MUSVs as an exception.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe MUSV continues to be a strictly Navy-led program,\u201d a Navy spokesperson told <em>Defense One<\/em>. \u201cWe will evaluate all requirements and release recurring marketplaces as the fleet demand signal evolves, ensuring our warfighters maintain an operational advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Navy is working with the new Pentagon office for non-MUSV programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Navy is partnering with the [Pentagon\u2019s direct reporting portfolio manager for unmanned and autonomous systems] to streamline acquisition, enhance joint interoperability, and accelerate delivery of autonomous capabilities to the warfighter. While transitioning decision authority for select unmanned vessels to the DRPM, the Navy maintains stewardship over major programs of record,\u201d the spokesperson said. \u201cTo ensure operational readiness and theater compatibility, Navy leaders are aligning all remaining programs with joint data standards, providing the critical personnel, resource support, and technical expertise required for a swift and successful stand-up.&#8221;<svg class=\"content-tombstone\">\n<use xlink:href=\"http:\/\/www.defenseone.com\/static\/base\/svg\/spritesheet.svg#icon-d1-logo-tiny\"\/>\n<\/svg><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\nn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\nif(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\nn.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\nt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\ns.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script',\n'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\nfbq('init', '10155007044873614'); \nfbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><script>\n  window.fbAsyncInit = function() {\n    FB.init({\n      appId      : '1546266055584988',\n      autoLogAppEvents : true,\n      xfbml      : true,\n      version    : 'v2.11'\n    });\n  };\n  (function(d, s, id){\n     var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n     if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;}\n     js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n     js.src = \"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\";\n     fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n   }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/>Read the full article <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defenseone.com\/defense-systems\/2026\/07\/navy-teases-next-step-key-drone-boat-program\/414683\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Navy plans to launch the next phase of its marketplace for high-capacity, medium-sized drone boats on August 1, according to a contract notice.\u00a0 The medium unmanned surface vessel, or MUSV, program \u201cuses modular design principles to create adaptable and resilient solutions that can effectively counter evolving threats,\u201d the July 7 notice states. \u201cInterested parties<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.defenseone.com\/media\/img\/cd\/2026\/07\/09\/9268192\/open-graph.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-defense"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13503"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13505,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13503\/revisions\/13505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/range\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}