SeeByte Ltd, the global leader of smart software solutions for uncrewed maritime systems, has been awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite- quantity (IDIQ) contract to support the US Navy’s MK18 Uncrewed Underwater Vehicle Family of Systems program. The awarded IDIQ has a total potential value of $87 million and a duration of up to 10 years. Under this contract, SeeByte will provide engineering, technical support, training and simulation services including upgrades to SeeByte’s Mission-Level Autonomy system, Neptune, development of Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) modules and a bespoke training and simulation toolkit (Unmanned Systems Simulator).
Neptune automatically matches survey areas and objectives to the available assets and their capabilities. It will adapt to changes in the environment during a mission, and will coordinate assets to ensure mission success. Neptune enables uncrewed maritime systems to be used to their full potential and has been adopted by the US, UK, Canadian, and Dutch Navies for use in Explosive Ordnance Disposal and Mine Countermeasure missions. Neptune can integrate with a diverse range of uncrewed maritime systems, enabling operators to coordinate multiple assets to perform different behaviours as part of a single operation.
The Mk 18 Mod 1 Swordfish Uncrewed Underwater Vehicle is capable of performing low-visible exploration and reconnaissance in support of amphibious landing; MCM operations (including search, classification and mapping; and reacquire and identification); and hydrographic mapping in the VSW zone (10 to 40 feet depth) and the seaward approaches. It is capable of navigating via acoustic transponders in long-baseline or ultra-short-baseline mode or via P-coded GPS. Based on the REMUS 100, the Swordfish is designed to Search, Classify, and Map (SCM) the Very Shallow Water (VSW) Region (10?40 ft). The U.S. Navy has a total of 24 MK18 Uncrewed Underwater Vehicles.
