General Dynamics Mission Systems Wins $13.5 Mln Navy UUV Contract

General Dynamics Mission Systems said it was recently awarded a $13.5 million cost-plus fixed-fee and cost-only modification for continued engineering support, development, test and production of the Knifefish Surface Mine Countermeasure (SMCM) Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV). This award is a modification to the original contract, bringing the post-milestone C phase of the effort to $62.1 million since September 2019.

Knifefish SMCM is a medium class mine countermeasure UUV intended for deployment from the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship and other Navy vessels of opportunity. Knifefish SMCM will reduce risk to personnel by operating within minefields as an off-board sensor while the host ship stays outside the minefield boundaries.

“Our Knifefish team has worked in close collaboration with the Navy’s Program Executive Office for Unmanned and Small Combatants. This collaboration has contributed greatly to the program advancement and our continued ability to meet critical mine countermeasure mission needs for our U.S. Navy,” said Carlo Zaffanella, vice president and general manager at General Dynamics Mission Systems. “Our entire team is excited and proud to contribute to the delivery of this state-of-the-art capability to protect our sailors.”

General Dynamics Mission Systems, prime contractor for the Knifefish program, achieved milestone C authorization in August 2019 and was awarded a $44.6 million contract to begin low initial rate production of five Knifefish systems. The company designed the tactical UUV using an open architecture concept that can be quickly and efficiently modified to accommodate a wide range of missions. The Knifefish SMCM UUV is based on the General Dynamics Bluefin Robotics Bluefin-21 deep-water autonomous undersea vehicle.