USN chooses contractor support for MK18 UUV upgrades
Upgrades for the MK18 family of UUV systems operated by the USN are being supported by California-based Areté Associates, under a $9.75 million integration services contract announced by the DoD on 24 August.
Work under the 17-month contract from the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, scheduled for completion by 23 January 2022, includes incremental upgrades, block upgrades and future generations of the MK18 family, additional UUVs and ROVs.
Based on the Remus 600 design, the MK18 is a highly configurable vehicle with a maximum operating depth of 600m.
Deployable from vessels as small as an 11m RIB and with a maximum mission duration of 24 hours, the UUV can be outfitted with a broad range of sensors to meet the requirements of missions including MCM, hydrographic survey, area search plus surveillance and reconnaissance.
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