3 Louisiana shipyards to build 30 drone ships in $1.2 billion MUSV deal with Navy

Three Louisiana-based shipyards will build unmanned surface ships for the U.S. Navy following recent sea trials, the service announced Tuesday.

The three companies — Saronic, HII and Galliano Marine Service — will each build 10 medium-sized unmanned surface vessels, or MUSVs, at about $40 million per hull, Chris Miller, acting manager of the Navy’s direct reporting portfolio for robotic and autonomous systems, told reporters during a virtual roundtable.

The Navy awarded the awards using other transaction authorizations, but did not specify the amount each company received. A news release from the service described the $40 million figure as an average cost per ship. The funding comes from reconciliation legislation known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed by Congress last year.

“Phase one production prices were based on the optimal combination of autonomy performance, design, production schedule and cost,” Miller said on Tuesday’s call. “Production will begin immediately at shipyards in Loreauville, Houma and Franklin, Louisiana, with deliveries beginning as early as the fourth quarter (of fiscal year) 2027.”

Miller was referring to the location of the three construction sites. HII partner Breaux Brothers is based in Loureauville, Iberia Parish. HII also works with the Halimar Shipyard in Morgan City to build its Romulus MUSVs. Galliano Marine Service, which also does business as Edison Chouest, is based in Houma, Louisiana. Saronic is building in Franklin, Louisiana, at the yard formerly known as Gulf Craft, in which the company has invested hundreds of millions of dollars for a expansionUSNI News reported.

The Navy’s requirements for the first phase called for a ship capable of traveling 2,500 nautical miles at 25 knots in Sea State 4, while carrying payloads of up to 25 metric tons on at least two 40-foot shipping containers.

The contract announcement comes after several weeks of sea trials that ended this month.

“The test was that they had to be able to run approximately 26 hours over 360 nautical miles with a single entry during that time from an authorized (command and control) station,” Miller said of the testing requirements. “This essentially demonstrated that the ship could operate for over 24 hours at extended range with very minimal intervention from the actual operator of a C2 station.”

The six companies that met the testing criteria will each receive $15 million and move into the Department of Defense drone market, Miller said.

Seven companies participated in testing after reaching the prototype phase in May. In addition to the three production award winning companies, Birdon, Leidos, PacMar Technologies and Sea Machines also participated. Birdon is the only company that failed to meet the requirements.

Miller said Birdon has a “viable path” to enter the market in the future as the Navy prepares for a second phase of the MUSV program.

“They really started later and I think if they had been given more time they could have done it,” he said. “We will work with them and I want to help them succeed.”

Last week, the Navy issued a request for proposals for phase two of the MUSV, which Miller said aims to introduce more types of unmanned vessels to the market.

“What I’m trying to do is also provide more industrial opportunities for companies that have something ready to go,” he said. “Obviously in the first phase they had to meet more difficult requirements and so I’m trying to move away from that so that I can have a healthy, competitive industrial base and really use that to help us identify near-term opportunities to meet our operational demands.

Service requirements allow for a greater variety of craft and require less payload. The vessel can be a maximum of 295 feet long and must be capable of operating for 10 days and surviving in Sea State 6, according to a draft requirements document reviewed by USNI News. Noting that the high-speed mandate for phase one has led to some difficulties, Miller said phase two does not have a high-speed or refueling-at-sea requirement.

“Phase two of the RFP allows participants to compete and existing suppliers to submit updated product blocks and modular payload configurations,” Miller said. “Evaluation testing will begin as early as November 16 and proposals will be evaluated on a rolling basis over the next five years.”

Miller declined to comment on the ongoing lawsuit that two other companies — Blue Water Autonomy and Saildrone — filed against the Navy following the award of the prototype for the first phase.

“We are prepared to handle whatever decision the judge makes,” he said. “But I really don’t want to get into the details of this ongoing litigation.”

Both companies say the Navy did not follow its own selection criteria when selecting the award winners.