Louisiana-based shipbuilder Metal Shark has been selected to develop and implement the Long Range Unmanned Surface Vessel (LRUSV) System for the United States Marine Corps. According to company press release, the LRUSV will travel autonomously for extended ranges and transport loitering munitions to address targets at sea and on land.
“The LRUSV program represents a significant milestone for autonomous technology, for the defence world, and for the entire shipbuilding industry,” said Metal Shark CEO Chris Allard. “We are thrilled to be integrating advanced autonomy and Command and Control capability into these highly specialized surface vessels to provide the Marine Corps with a next-generation system.”
Under an “Other Transaction Authority” (OTA) Agreement with Marine Corps Systems Command, Metal Shark will design, build, test, and implement the vessels and will handle the integration of the autonomy system and an advanced Command and Control (C2) software suite.
In 2019, Metal Shark was selected by US Navy PMS 406 (Naval Sea Systems Command’s Unmanned Maritime Systems division) for the Unmanned Family of Systems Multi Award IDIQ, a blanket Navy contact covering multiple topics in the autonomous space.
Metal Shark has self-contained shipbuilding facilities in Alabama and Louisiana USA and a dedicated engineering facility in Croatia.
Two Turkish companies Ares Shipyard and Meteksan Savunma have announced recently their solution for similar problems. The system is called ULAQ. ULAQ will be armed with Roketsan’s Cirit and L-Umtas missiles.
