The US Department of Defense has awarded a contract to SeeByte to support the US Navy’s MK18 Uncrewed Underwater Vehicle (UUV) Family of Systems (FoS) programme.
The indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract has a performance period of up to ten years and is valued at $87m.
SeeByte is a developer of smart software solutions for uncrewed maritime systems (UMS). Through the contract, the US Navy will receive support to extend its autonomous systems and machine learning capabilities.
The company will be responsible for delivering services such as engineering, technical support, training, and simulation.
As per the terms of the contract, SeeByte will provide updates to its Mission-Level Autonomy system, Neptune. The system is designed to provide ‘optimal mission execution and goal-based planning’ for UMS squads.
The contract also requires the company to support Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) modules development, and a bespoke training and simulation toolkit.
According to SeeByte, ATR detects mine-like objects from the sidescan sonar data, and the Neptune uncrewed systems simulator allows the user to practice skills and train for missions.
In June 2020, the company received a delivery order to provide services in support of the continued development of software tools for the US Navy’s MK18 UUV FoS.
The MK18 UUV can be fitted with a range of sensors to support the needs of the Navy’s mine counter measures missions, surveillance and reconnaissance, and other operations.
The vehicle can be deployed from vessels and operates at a maximum depth of 600m.
