By Geoff Fein
The Navy yesterday said it has ceased funding development of the Mission Reconfigurable Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (MRUUV) due to technical and engineering issues.
The decision, made by the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV), affects $36 million of research, development, test and evaluation funds appropriated in fiscal year ’08 and ’09, that have not been obligated. The decision effectively cancels Phase I of the MRUUV effort, the Navy said.
The Navy had used $6 million in FY ’08 funding, leaving $6 million that would be combined with the $30 million planned for FY ’09, the Navy said.
“We determined that the technical and engineering limitations of the Mission Reconfigurable UUV System precluded adequate operational capability,” Lt. Clayton Doss, a Navy spokesman, said.
The funds will be used to develop a UUV with greater payload, longer range and a larger diameter, according to the Navy. The MRUUV is 21 inches in diameter.
MRUUV was to have an interchangeable payload, so it could be used for a number of different missions just by swapping out sensors or putting in an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) module (Defense Daily, Sept. 8, 2006).
The president’s budget submission for 2010 will disclose the future plan for the MRUUV program. The submission is expected to be released in early 2009, according to Doss.
“We are still developing the plan to execute the remaining FY ’09 unobligated funds in the most effective manner. The decision to pursue Large Diameter vehicles does not change the Navy’s interest in multi-purpose, reconfigurable vehicles to support the fleet,” Doss said. “Such vehicles could be employed from multiple vessels, including surface ships and submarines with large ocean interfaces such as the SSGN Payload Tube, Dry-Deck Shelters on either SSGN or SSNs, and the future Virginia Large Bow Tube.”
According to a Navy source, the expectation was that Boeing [BA] and the University of Texas were to be awarded the FY ’09 phase I contract.
In 2003, Lockheed Martin [LMT] beat rival bids from a Boeing-Northrop Grumman [NOC] team for MRUUV (Defense Daily, June 9, 2003).