Matthew Nelson
General Dynamics' mission systems business has received a $13.5M contract modification to continue engineering an unmanned undersea vehicle designed for U.S. Navy surface mine countermeasure operations.
Knifefish is a medium-class UUV that can deploy from military vessels such as the Littoral Combat Ship and operate on minefield areas as an off-board sensor, General Dynamics said Thursday.
The company developed the platform with an open architecture to support multiple missions.
GDMS began manufacturing five Knifefish following a milestone C decision in August last year under a $44.6M low-rate initial production contract from the Navy.
Carlo Zaffanella, vice president and general manager of GDMS, said collaboration between the company and the branch's program executive office for unmanned and small combatants has helped advance the program.
The modification award brings the amount of funds the branch has obligated since the approval to $62.1M.
General Dynamics derived its SMCM UUV from the Bluefin-21Â autonomous undersea vehicle platform.
