The Navy on Nov. 2 announced an industry day for unmanned systems research and development later this month ahead of a planned contract.

“The Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division (NSWCCD) announces an Industry Day for Unmanned Vehicles (UxV) and Unmanned Systems (UxS) development, experimentation, demonstration, acquisition, operations, and employment resulting in products and/or services that are within thirteen functional areas,” the Navy notice said.

The industry day is planned to be a virtual event on Nov. 18, with responses due Nov. 16.

According to the Navy notice, the service plans to award an indefinitely delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) Multiple Award Contract (MAC), which allows the Defense Department to create a group of qualified companies who then compete on individual task orders.

The Navy notice provided no specific details about the contract like expected total value, how long it will last, and number of contractors it expects to include in the MAC.

The notice said the contractors will provide full life-cycle and spectrum support for 13 functional areas including payload integration, non-payload sensors, enabling capabilities and technologies, autonomy and vehicle control systems, ashore and host platform elements, product support management, test and evaluation support, lab support, experimentation and demonstration support, prototyping, cybersecurity and cyber resilience, software support, and modeling and simulation. 

“This is an excellent opportunity to increase Industry’s knowledge about this particular requirement and to ask questions that might arise as result of the presentation. Participants are encouraged to submit questions before the event,” the Navy said in the announcement. 

This work is being managed by Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division and Naval Sea Systems Command.