Lockheed Martin awarded DARPA Manta Ray UUV contract

The US Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded Lockheed Martin a US$12.3 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for research, development, and demonstration of a new series of extra-large unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Under DARPA's Manta Ray programme, the proposed UUV will be designed to be capable of long-range, long-duration missions while carrying a relatively large payload to reduce reliance on vessels of opportunity and other forms of logistic support in forward operating environments.

The contract has an estimated completion of January 2021.