Seasats is making a splash in the unmanned surface vessel (USV) space.
Yesterday, California-based USV startup Seasats announced that it’s been awarded a joint $24M contract with the Navy and Marines under the APFIT program to accelerate production and delivery of its Lightfish USVs.
This comes on the heels of the company scoring a $89M ceiling SBIR Phase 3 indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract with the Navy to deliver Lightfish to the Marine Corps last October.
Remember: There are plenty of fish in the sea because Seasats keeps putting them there.
Good (AP)FIT: The Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) program, launched in 2022, sets aside procurement funding for new technologies that have completed development and are ready for operational use.
It’s been a long, long January, but way back in December, the Pentagon announced over $1B in awards through the program, including $24M for “Small Uncrewed Maritime Vessels.”
Well, we now know that that chunk of cash is headed to Seasats, and this latest contract means the startup has passed the swim test and is ready for the big leagues.
Fishy business: The Lighfish—Seasats’ smallest USV—is the company’s flagship product, but they’re working on a few options that could come into play with this contract.
- Lightfish: An 11-foot-long, 3-foot-wide lightweight USV designed primarily for maritime ISR and sensing. Despite its small size and low cost (around $250,000), the solar- and backup generator-powered Lightfish can be at sea for up to six months in Sea State 6+.
- Quickfish: Rolled out in October, the 17-foot-long and 1,600-pound Quickfish is the bigger, speedier sibling of the Lightfish, designed as an “interceptor USV.” It can hit top speeds of over 35 knots, is powered by both hybrid-electric and combustion engines, and has a roughly $500,000 price tag.
- Heavyfish: Seasats’ latest and greatest USV (at least in terms of size), coming in at 9,000 lbs with a 1,000 lb payload capacity and top speed of 12 knots. It’s still in development but expected to be in the water later this year.
Seasats didn’t disclose whether the Lightfish or Quickfish will be the focus of the APFIT award, or how many they’re expecting to deliver. However, CEO Mike Flanigan told Tectonic that the company has the capacity to produce Lightfish “in the hundreds” each year, and the USV is already in operational use with the Navy and Marine Corps.
Back for seconds: Clearly, both have taken a liking to what Seasats has to offer.
“[APFIT] is a warfighter-sponsored system—we didn’t submit for it,” Flanigan said. “The people who are using our products were like, ‘Hey, we want more of these, and we want to be able to go faster.’”
With the APFIT award, “Our customers on the Navy and Marine Corps side can place larger orders faster, which allows us to commit to scaling our production,” he added. “The fact that a US Navy sponsor and a US Marine Corps sponsor both identified these Seasats products as being something that they really need to scale quickly was very cool to see.”