The Department of Defense has commenced seeking industry feedback on readily available, demonstration-ready uncrewed systems for missions in contested environments.
Combat Autonomous Maritime Platform
According to the Defense Innovation Unit, the DOD is soliciting potential contractors capable of developing the Combat Autonomous Maritime Platform, or CAMP. The unmanned underwater vehicles, or UUVs, are intended for military applications such as the deployment of large payloads across significant ranges.
Currently, the military is unable to efficiently deploy vital resources in operational environments due to the limited payload capacity and range of existing unmanned maritime vehicles. The project aims to develop UUVs with advanced capabilities needed to maximize operational effectiveness.
CAMP Requirements
To be selected for the project, the vendor should develop a UUV capable of traveling more than 1,000 nautical miles and diving deeper than 200 meters underwater. It should be able to carry payload sizes up to 21 feet long and 21 inches wide and drop them to the seafloor.
Furthermore, the uncrewed system should be operational without GPS and have advanced navigation, guidance, obstacle and collision avoidance capabilities. The CAMP vehicle should be able to perform crucial missions such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, bathymetric surveys and mapping, and acoustic and radio frequency communications.
Interested contractors have until May 1 to submit their responses.
Project CAMP is named after the late Richard “Mike” Camp, former director of warfare systems of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Camp, a career submarine officer, advocated for the inclusion of large uncrewed undersea vehicles into the fleet.
