The Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has launched the second phase of a competition to field production-ready unmanned surface vessels (USVs) capable of detecting, identifying, and neutralizing airborne threats.
The Suitable Warfighting Adaptive Payloads (SWAP)-USV initiative offers up to $40 million in awards at this stage. It seeks mature autonomous vessels equipped with hard-kill weapons, sensors, and interoperable control systems to counter low-cost drones and helicopters.
The USVs must be capable of deployment within 120 days to address a gap in the US Navy’s air defense capabilities.
Read the full story on our new publication, The Drone Front: Pentagon Opens New Sprint to Field Air Defense Drone Boats