Northrop Grumman Awarded Unmanned Surface Vessel Contract From DARPA: "Northrop Grumman has been awarded a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV), leading the way for a new class of ocean-going unmanned surface vessels (USVs).
Under the terms of the $2 million contract, Northrop Grumman will develop a concept, specifications and a manufacturing plan by the end of March 2011 for a persistent, autonomous vessel that can perform both ASW tracking and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance functions.
The ACTUV is intended to trail and monitor targets autonomously. A collection of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) and advanced, customized sensors would provide the ACTUV's command and control system with the situational awareness it needs to respond to target behaviors."
