US Navy receives Seahawk Vessel from Leidos.

According to information published by Leidos on April 8, 2021, the company announced that it has completed delivery of a cutting-edge autonomous vessel to the U.S. Navy, known as Seahawk. The Office of Naval Research awarded Leidos the cost-plus-fixed-fee contract to build the vessel, with an approximate value of $35.5 million, in December 2017. Work was principally performed on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
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Seahawk Autonomous Surface Vessel (Picture source: Leidos)

Seahawk is a long-range, high-availability autonomous surface vessel with a composite trimaran hull. This medium-displacement unmanned surface vehicle (MDUSV) will enhance capabilities for naval operations. Like Leidos’ MDUSV Sea Hunter, Seahawk is substantially larger than other U.S. Navy USVs and has significantly increased capabilities compared to smaller USVs in terms of range, seakeeping and payload capacity. Seahawk is designed to operate with little human involvement, thus providing a forward-deployed and rapid-response asset in the global maritime surveillance network.

The trimaran’s displacement (fully loaded) is 145 long tons. This includes 14,000 gallons of fuel that can power the twin diesel engines for a substantial length of time. Seahawk’s upgraded design follows an evaluation of over 300 lessons learned from Sea Hunter. These upgrades were based on joint evaluations by Leidos and the Navy and include upgraded electrical systems, a payload mounting system and test operator control station.

Leidos, formerly known as Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) is an American Defense, Aviation, Information Technology (Lockheed Martin IS&GS), and Biomedical Research company headquartered in Reston, Virginia, that provides scientific, engineering, systems integration, and technical services.