Textron Systems has secured two Naval Air Systems Command task orders worth up to roughly $85 million combined to fly contractor-owned, contractor-operated Aerosonde Mk. 4.7 VTOL drones in support of the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet in the Pacific and other joint forces.
Two task orders under a $819M five-year framework
Notices posted last Thursday show Textron won one task order on 24 August worth up to about $43 million if all options are exercised, and a second on 31 August worth up to nearly $42 million. Each includes a base period plus multiple option periods stretching up to five years. Both fall under a Class Justification and Approval by NAVAIR that estimates the aggregate value of the contractor-drone-services initiative at $819 million over five years, with AeroVironment, Shield AI, Insitu and Textron competing on a limited-source basis.
What the Aerosonde brings to the fleet
Textron will provide COCO “unmanned aviation services to deliver continuous, reliable sensor data and full-motion video to U.S. Navy and joint forces at sea and ashore,” per the notices. Deliverables include “Maritime B-Kits” sized for the Littoral Combat Ship, Guided Missile Destroyer and Maritime Support Vessel classes, each with a 12-month operational support period providing up to 175 sensor data hours per month. The Aerosonde Mk. 4.7 VTOL platform has a 75-nautical-mile range, can carry up to six payloads per flight, and the Aerosonde family has logged over 750,000 operational flight hours across full-motion video, SAR, LiDAR, EW and comms-relay payloads.
Part of a wider Navy unmanned build-out
The award lands in a busy fortnight of U.S. Navy autonomy news that also includes Iran's alleged seizure of an Anduril Dive-LD UUV near Hormuz, DIU's MagNav quantum navigation flight test and the Navy's search for its first increment of Collaborative Combat Aircraft.
Reporting based on coverage from DefenseScoop, NAVAIR and Textron Systems.