UISS Should Achieve IOC by Summer’s End: Official

A developmental, early variant of the Common Unmanned Surface Vehicle (CUSV) autonomously conducts maneuvers on the Elizabeth River during its demonstration during Citadel Shield-Solid Curtain 2020 at Naval Station Norfolk. U.S. NAVY / Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Grant G. Grady

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Navy has wrapped up initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E) for the Unmanned Influence Sweep System (UISS) and expects the platform to be ready for fielding by the end of this summer, according to an official.

Capt. Godfrey Weekes, program manager for Littoral Combat Ship mission modules (PMS-420), said Tuesday at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space expo in National Harbor, Maryland, that initial operational capability (IOC) for the platform is the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021, which ends Sept. 30, 2021.

The UISS platform is designed for the LCS’s mine countermeasures mission package (MCM). It “consists of a mine countermeasures unmanned surface vehicle (USV) and a towed minesweeping payload for influence sweeping of magnetic, acoustic and magnetic/acoustic combination mine types,” according to a Navy statement.

The UISS’s Minehunt USV is currently in contractor verification testing. Low-rate initial production of that platform should begin sometime in late fiscal 2022, Weekes said.

The MCM mission package itself is scheduled to achieve IOC in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022.

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