DARPA awards contract for unmanned sub-hunter

An artist's concept of the anti-submarine warfare continuous trail unmanned vessel (ACTUV). A DARPA photo

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA (BNS): US defence research agency DARPA has awarded a contract to Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) to develop an unmanned vessel that will track and quell the threat of a quiet diesel-electric submarine cruising near national waters.

The contract, worth $58.4 million, was awarded to SAIC on August 14 for the second, third and fourth phases of the anti-submarine warfare continuous trail unmanned vessel (ACTUV) programme, DARPA said.

The ACTUV programme envisions the design, construction and demonstration of an unmanned vessel that can track enemy's diesel electric submarines for months at a time spanning thousands of kilometers of ocean with minimal human input.

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