General Dynamics Mission Systems awarded $13.5 million contract for Knifefish SMCM UUV

October 27, 2020 | AUVSI News

General Dynamics Mission Systems was recently awarded a $13.5 million cost-plus fixed-fee and cost-only modification to continue its engineering support, development, test, and production of the Knifefish Surface Mine Countermeasure (SMCM) UUV.

A modification to the original contract, this award brings the post-milestone C phase of the effort to $62.1 million since Sept. 2019.

A medium class mine countermeasure UUV, Knifefish SMCM is designed to be deployed from the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship and other Navy vessels of opportunity. The UUV will operate within minefields as an off-board sensor while the host ship stays outside the minefield boundaries to reduce risk to personnel.

“Our Knifefish team has worked in close collaboration with the Navy’s Program Executive Office for Unmanned and Small Combatants. This collaboration has contributed greatly to the program advancement and our continued ability to meet critical mine countermeasure mission needs for our U.S. Navy,” says Carlo Zaffanella, vice president and general manager at General Dynamics Mission Systems.

“Our entire team is excited and proud to contribute to the delivery of this state-of-the-art capability to protect our sailors.”

The prime contractor for the Knifefish program, General Dynamics Mission Systems achieved milestone C authorization in Aug. 2019, and was awarded a $44.6 million contract to begin low initial rate production of five Knifefish systems.

The Knifefish SMCM UUV is based on the General Dynamics Bluefin Robotics Bluefin-21 deep-water autonomous undersea vehicle. General Dynamics Mission Systems used an open architecture concept that can be quickly and efficiently modified to accommodate a wide range of missions to design the tactical UUV. 

Photo below: General Dynamics Mission Systems was recently awarded a $13.5 million cost-plus fixed-fee and cost-only modification for continued engineering support, development, test, and production of the Knifefish Surface Mine Countermeasure (SMCM) Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (UUV). Photo courtesy of ​​General Dynamics Mission Systems