WASHINGTON — The Navy has selected seven submissions in the medium unmanned surface vessel (MUSV) marketplace to move forward into the prototype evaluation phase, according to the service.
The MUSV marketplace launched in March, and more than two dozen designs were submitted, Navy spokesman Capt. Ron Flanders said.
Flanders did not provide a list of companies whose designs were selected to advance, but said that an announcement was expected within the next few days. At least one firm, Saildrone, revealed at the Sea Air Space Exposition that they submitted a proposal before the first iteration of the marketplace closed in April.
“Selected industry partners must successfully complete at-sea demonstrations to prove the maturity of their systems,” Flanders said in a statement to Breaking Defense today. “After successful at-sea demonstrations prior to October 2026, the Navy plans to work with Industry to have vessels available for Navy leasing or procurement in fiscal year 2027.”
USNI News first reported the update.
The Navy first unveiled plans for the marketplace as part of a new acquisition model intended to lay the foundation for obtaining other autonomous systems, according to comments made in March by Rebecca Gassler, the portfolio acquisition executive (PAE) for robotic and autonomous systems (RAS).
Gassler at the time did not share specifics about what type of mission set these vessels will fulfill. However, she said there’s multiple operational needs they could take on as the service implements more tailored force packages, as outlined in Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle’s Fighting Instructions guidance released in February.
“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 then.
Designs submitted must carry at least two 40-ft shipping containers, and travel 2,500 nautical miles at 25 knots in sea state 4 conditions while outfitted with a 25 metric ton load on the payload deck, the solicitation document for the marketplace said.
Marketplace funding stemmed from President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” that passed in July that included roughly $2.1 billion for MUSVs.
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