Raytheon [RTN] was awarded an $83 million Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) contract on Thursday to design, test, and deploy the Barracuda mine neutralization system.
The company describes the Barracuda mine neutralization system as an expendable, autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle that aims to identify and neutralize three kinds of sea minds: bottom, near surface, and drifting.
The Barracuda will field a shallow water capability and will be an expendable modular neutralizer “consisting of a kill mechanism, propulsion, sensors, and communications buoy that enables wireless communication to the deployment platform.”
The contract includes options that, if exercised, would raise the total contract value to nearly $363 million. Most of the work will occur in Portsmouth, R.I., and is expected to be finished by November 2022. FY ’17 and ’18 Navy research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) funds of $11 million were obligated at award time and $1.6 million of it will expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
The Navy said the contract was competitively procured, but only one offer was received.
“We’ve applied our sonar expertise and our understanding of the complex undersea environment to Barracuda. It’s an innovative solution for the Navy’s mine countermeasure mission and we are now one step closer to delivering,” Paul Ferraro, vice president of Raytheon’s integrated defense systems’ seapower capability systems business, said in a statement.
Separately, NAVSEA awarded Raytheon a $136.5 million modification to exercise an Air and Missile Defense Radar (AMDR) program contract option for one low-rate initial production (LRIP) unit.
The LRIP unit will be deployed on an Arleigh Burke-class (DDG-51) Flight III ship. Work will occur in Marlborough, Mass., and is expected to be finished by April 2021.
The AMDR is the main upgrade in the Flight III destroyer, with an AN/SPY-6 radar that is better able to detect and track ballistic missile threats.
The full modification funding was obligated at award time via FY ’18 shipbuilding and conversion accounts and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
Last week at the Sea Air Space Expo, DDG-51 Program Manager Capt. Casey Moton said Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII] plans to begin fabricating the first Flight III destroyer, DDG-125, in May. The other DDG-51 shipbuilder, General Dynamics Bath Iron Works [GD] will build the second Flight III ship, DDG-126 (Defense Daily, April 10).