Kraken’s Royal Navy USV contract signals next step in crewed-uncrewed integration
The UK Royal Navy’s rapid procurement of uncrewed platforms aligns with the force’s strategic shift towards a fleet better equipped to handle modern threats.
Aerial view of Norfolk Naval Shipyard. (Photo: USN/Mass Communication 2nd Class Ernest Scott)
Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) has selected multiple shipyards in the US to conduct complex repair, maintenance and modernisation work on various USN ship classes homeported in Norfolk, Virginia.
‘These efforts consist of Chief of Naval Operations scheduled docking and non-docking, continuous maintenance and emergent maintenance availabilities of surface combatant class ships,’ the DoD announced on 6 January.
One multiple-award IDIQ contract worth up to $639.8 million will see BAE Systems, General Dynamics NASSCO and four other independent shipyards compete for work on Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers and Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers at Norfolk.
Another multiple-award IDIQ contract for the same companies, with a maximum value of $337.61 million, covers Norfolk-homeported amphibious assault vessels (America class and Wasp class), San Antonio-class amphibious transport docks and Whidbey Island-class dock landing ships.
Each contract has an estimated ordering period of five years.
The UK Royal Navy’s rapid procurement of uncrewed platforms aligns with the force’s strategic shift towards a fleet better equipped to handle modern threats.
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