The US Coast Guard Research and Development Center has issued a request for information seeking commercially available technologies to detect, track, and defeat uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs).
The effort aims to improve the security of ports, waterways, and other critical maritime infrastructure.
Designed to identify technologies for future testing and operational evaluation, the effort could lead to selected companies demonstrating their systems at a Coast Guard maritime test site.
According to the agency, underwater drones are becoming increasingly accessible for missions ranging from intelligence gathering and surveillance to smuggling, sabotage of critical infrastructure, and direct attacks.
However, the Coast Guard noted that few systems have demonstrated reliable capabilities to neutralize or disable such threats.
Operationally Proven Systems
Counter-UUV systems must have a Technology Readiness Level of 5 or higher, indicating they have been demonstrated under relevant operational conditions rather than solely in laboratory testing.
The Coast Guard is interested in systems that can actively defeat or mitigate underwater threats, not just detect them.
Candidate technologies may include kinetic effectors, integrated counter-UUV solutions, or other counter-drone platforms.
Each solution should be able to detect, identify, track, and neutralize underwater vehicles.
They are expected to operate effectively in ports, harbors, and coastal waterways while integrating with existing maritime security infrastructure.
Companies are asked to describe how their systems operate and provide key technical information, including power requirements, safety features, and results from previous testing.
Submissions should also include estimated delivery timelines, procurement costs, maintenance requirements, and performance against specific UUV models.
Information on how the technology could be integrated into broader maritime defense systems is also requested.
