Bollinger Shipyards recently delivered the first three Mine Countermeasures Unmanned Surface Vehicles (MCM USVs) to the Navy.
The Navy plans to use the MCM USVs as a key part of the MCM Mission Package (MP) of Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) to replace the aging manned
Avenger-class MCM ships and MH-53E helicopters. The vessels are expected to conduct minesweeping, mine hunting, and mine neutralization operations.
MCM USV is specifically part of the Unmanned influence Sweep (UISS) system where it tows anti-mine payloads like the RTX [RTX] AN/AQS-20C sonar to detect, localize and classify bottom, close-tethered moored and volume moored mines. The craft is able to be launched from both LCSs and shore facilities.
The company boasted the MCM USV is the Navy’s first program of record, non-prototype autonomous surface ships.
“Bollinger is proud to deliver the first three full-rate production MCM USVs to the U.S. Navy. This milestone demonstrates Bollinger’s ability to deliver highly complex, next-generation capabilities that meet the evolving needs of our naval forces,” Ben Bordelon, President and CEO of Bollinger Shipyards, said in a statement.
In 2022, the Navy surprisingly awarded the MCM USV award to Bollinger rather than Textron [TXT], despite the latter having built the four Common Unmanned Surface Vessels (CUSV) used to test the concept (Defense Daily, April 11, 2022).
The original contract covered three MCM USVs, with options of six more in the base year and up to an additional 24 total.
In 2023, Bollinger won another $12.5 million award for four more MCM USVs (Defense Daily, Oct. 23, 2023).
Bollinger said the USV uses the multiple Payload Delivery Systems (PDSs) to include the Minesweeping PDS, Minehunting PDS and PDSs for future payloads, including Mine Neutralization. It noted all of these systems will integrate onto a base MCM USV.
Bollinger is building the MCM USVs at its Lockport, La., facility and has currently been contracted to deliver nine vessels and still has options for up to 18 more under the current contract.