SeeByte to continue supporting UK minehunting capability under new contract
Screenshots of SeeByte’s software showing mission planning, monitoring and post-mission analysis for the SeaCat AUV. (Image: SeeByte/Atlas Elektronik)
The multi-year award directly will see services first procured in March 2022 continue and will secure the supply, support and evolutionary development necessary to maintain the Royal Navy’s integration with SeeByte software.
SeeByte has been awarded a three-year contract by the UK MoD’s Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) to provide its suite of C2, mission-level autonomy, target recognition, support and development services to the UK Royal Navy’s Mine Hunting Capability (MHC) Delivery Team.
The base contract award was £2.4 million (US$3.1 million) with the potential for future flexible tasking orders up to a maximum of £50 million over the full contract term. There were also options to extend the duration up to two years.
The contract award marked a continuation of services first procured by DE&S in March 2022 and will secure the supply, support, and evolutionary development necessary to maintain the Royal Navy’s integration with SeeByte software.
The software has been widely fielded in different applications by the Royal Navy and its NATO allies, having been designed to optimise the operation and effectiveness of surface and underwater autonomous vehicles.
SeeByte has been working with several navies across the world in the area of integrating navies with USVs and UUVs.
In November 2022, Seebyte was awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract to support the US Navy’s autonomous systems and machine-learning capabilities, a deal which has a potential value of $87 million over 10 years.
In August 2022, SeeByte announced it had been chosen by the UK MoD to design and develop a “proof-of-concept solution to improve communication and understanding between operators and uncrewed maritime systems”.
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