WASHINGTON — The Navy is cutting its program to develop the so-called Modular Attack Surface Craft (MASC), and is instead rolling out the first medium unmanned surface vessel (MUSV) marketplace as part of a new procurement model.
Rebecca Gassler, the portfolio acquisition executive (PAE) for robotic and autonomous systems (RAS), said that the shift aims to get USVs into sailors’ hands faster by focusing on production-ready, mission capable platforms already in the MUSV space.
“It’s our new approach to accelerate this autonomous capability to the fleet as part of the Golden Fleet. It’s the first of what will be a recurring marketplace,” Gassler told reporters today. “So our goal is to create a regular and recurring marketplace, not just for the MUSV, but for other classes of vessels as well, over time, designed to match the growing demand for unmanned systems across a range of missions.”
Gassler described MASC as a “prototyping effort,” but said that as the Navy evaluated its needs for the future mixed manned-unmanned Golden Fleet, the service realized there were enough mature platforms on the market for a wide variety of capability sets that a prototyping effort wasn’t necessary.
“So this will allow us to test the capability on water and go straight into production,” she said.
Gassler said the pivot is also in alignment with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle’s Hedge Strategy laid out in his Fighting Instructions guidance released in February, which calls on the Navy to capitalize on unmanned systems and provide a range of tailored options in an attempt to give the service more flexibility.
The first iteration of the new marketplace opened today, and closes on April 17. Industry will be required to submit a business and manufacturing plan, as well as a design and test plan. Defense firms will then receive an award to complete an on-water test, Gassler said.
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“The on-water test must be completed by the end of the fiscal year, so pretty quick. So through the summer, the team will be testing the boats, and the expectation is that you have to deliver your production vessel, the first one of them, in FY27,” Gassler said.
Gassler did not disclose specifics about what type of mission set these vessels will fulfill, but said there’s a host of operational needs they could satisfy as the service implements more variety in pursuit of tailored forces.
“There’s a number of missions that we could immediately use these vessels for, and that is part of the strategy now, is that we will now have a skillful way to procure vessels that meet specific mission profiles,” Gassler said.
Funding for the marketplace is derived from President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” that passed in July and included roughly $2.1 billion for MUSVs.