PORTSMOUTH – Raytheon Co. was awarded an $83 million contract to design, test and deploy the Barracuda mine neutralization system, mostly at the company’s Portsmouth location, the company announced Thursday.
The project is an expendable, autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle intended to identify and neutralize bottom, near-surface and drifting sea mines. The UUV will “field a shallow water capability and be an expendable modular neutralizer consisting of a kill mechanism, propulsion, sensors and communications buoy,” according to a news release.
The company expects 96 percent of work to be done in Rhode Island and 4 percent to be done in Deleon Springs, Fla.
The contract includes options that could bring the contract value to $362.7 million, if exercised.
“We’ve applied our sonar expertise and our understanding of the complex undersea environment to Barracuda,” said Paul Ferraro, vice president of Raytheon’s Integrated Defense Systems’ Seapower Capability Systems business, in the release. “It’s an innovative solution for the [U.S.] Navy’s mine countermeasure mission and we are now one step closer to delivering.”
The contract was awarded by the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, D.C., through a “full and open competition” via the Federal Business Opportunities website.
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor.
