The Department of Defense and the U.S. Navy awarded a contract yesterday to Fincantieri Marinette Marine for design and engineering work on the Navy’s future large unmanned surface vessel.
Fincantieri Marinette Marine and five other companies will receive nearly $7 million each for conceptual design work over the next year. The Navy is expected to use these studies for detailed design and construction of additional unmanned vessels.
“We are interested in helping build tomorrow’s Navy, including manned and unmanned vessels,” said Dario Deste, CEO of Fincantieri Marine Group. “We are committed to sharing our technical expertise and industry-leading practices to give the Navy a competitive conceptual design for their large unmanned vessels.”
Four months ago, Fincantieri Marinette Marine was awarded the contract to build the Navy’s first-in-class guided-missile frigate, with options for nine follow-on ships collectively worth nearly $5.5B.
