US Navy seeks “innovative proposals” to counter cross-domain attacks from uncrewed systems

Inspired by recent events in the Red Sea and the Gulf as well as observing the continuing escalation of drone warfare in Ukraine, the US Navy on 3 January issued notice of a forthcoming Request for Solutions (RfS) for a Counter-uncrewed Experimentation and Advanced Development (CEAD) system integration with C2 systems. The full RfS is likely to be released on or around 31 January, according to the government notice, which specifies that solutions are sought for cross-domain uncrewed system (UXS) threats.

“The purpose of this [request for solutions] is to solicit innovative proposals for addressing the challenge of countering multiple cross-domain uncrewed systems (UXS) that could be employed in coordinated attacks,” the notice reads, in part. “The government is seeking solutions capable of integrating information from undersea, maritime surface, ground, and air domains to effectively detect, identify, track, and mitigate multiple UXS”.

Organisations seeking to express interest must be members of the Expeditionary Missions Consortium (EMC2), which is the anticipated vehicle for an Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) to be used as the procurement vehicle. The project seeks to leverage insights in previous counter-UXS experimentation to develop more robust solutions to the increasingly complex and rapidly changing threat environment.

Interested parties should visit the EMC2 website (see below) to become a member of the consortium in order to be able to view the RfS when released. Primary and secondary points of contact for this project are mark.v.dravetciv@us.navy.mil and sydney.l.wittmann.civ@us.navy.mil respectively.