US Navy seeking industry feedback for unmanned attack craft program

The US Navy released a solicitation seeking industry input in support of its "modular attack surface craft" (MASC) program on Monday, July 28.

The solicitation, open until August 11, 2025 invites industry partners to submit white papers or slide decks outlining their capabilities and proposed solutions for the MASC program.

The solicitation outlined that the MASC program is seeking unmanned surface vessels (USVs) to address several key operational needs.

“The MASC program represents a significant step forward in the navy's pursuit of a robust and adaptable unmanned surface fleet,” said Captain Matthew Lewis, Program Manager of the Unmanned Maritime Systems Program Office.

“This innovative approach to acquisition, coupled with a modular design philosophy, will provide the fleet with cost-effective and highly capable platforms to address the challenges of the 21st century maritime environment.”

MASC will combine capabilities from the navy’s medium and large USV programs, merging these into a modular platform designed for multi-mission operations.

The navy said this will enhance its, "distributed lethality and battlespace awareness through embarked warfighting capabilities including anti-surface warfare, strike warfare and information operations in addition to future embarked mission areas."

"It is intended that this solicitation will result in the award of prototype projects," the navy said via the solicitation.

The projects, "may include not only commercially-available technologies...but also concept demonstrations, pilots, and agile development activities that can incrementally improve commercial technologies, existing government-owned capabilities, or concepts for defence application."