Really don't know what to think of this:
"The drone would need to be able to operate for 90 days at a time, dive to depths of up to 200 meters – or 657 feet – and take a sample every 2 seconds, according to documents posted to Naval Information Warfare Systems Command’s website"
"The Navy wants the drone to be able to loiter at depth or on the bottom, be able to transmit data when it surfaces via iridium satellite or a line-of-site datalink and be recoverable by either a survey ship or a vessel of opportunity"
These specs are like 2000's era specs. In short orgs like Woods Hole and MBARI (Monterey) and Scripts have been using slocum gliders since about that time .
I mean I did an open marker survey while attached to a foreign navy back in 2003-2005 and you would think that people at Naval Information Warfare Systems Command would do the same before putting this out.
There is literally no need to develop this. It was developed something like 20 years ago and operational 15 years ago
See this article from 2008..so we seem to be issuing an RFP for tech this is over 15 years old and can be purchased of the shelf picture below is from 2012 when we lost one near Bermuda
Unidentified Floating Object In Bermuda's Waters - Bernews
Xconomy: Bluefin Sells Sub to Horizon Marine, Competes with iRobot for Big Navy Contract
"Bluefin, a 1997 spinoff of the AUV Laboratory at MIT’s Sea Grant College Program, licenses the technology behind the Spray Glider from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography "
"in the course of a single mission, the Spray Glider can dive and ascend 800 times, going as deep as 1,500 meters and covering a total distance of 4,000 kilometers. Every time the vehicle surfaces, it uses GPS to get a fix on its position, and sends the data it’s collected back to controllers via an Iridium satellite phone connection. (The Seaglider and the Slocum Glider function much the same way; all three vehicles were developed in response to an Office of Naval Research challenge to the scientific community about 10 years ago to build an “autonomous ocean sampling network.”)
"Bluefin has been manufacturing the Spray Glider for oceanographic research organizations and military agencies since 2004. But the Horizon deal marks the first time that Bluefin has supplied the craft to a commercial client. “The contract is important to us in that it’s really the first time that the oil and gas industry has come to look at this platform,” says Jeff Smith, Bluefin’s director of programs. “Traditionally this has been an academic research vehicle. The Navy has recently looked at using it for data collection to give advantage to the warfighter, and now with this Horizon Marine contract we’re seeing it in real-time applications for commercial oil and gas exploration.”
Smith couldn’t divulge the size of the contract, but he says that each Spray Glider vehicle costs about $100,000 when fully equipped with conductivity, temperature, and depth sensors. (Which isn’t much when you compare it to the $30,000 per day it can cost to send out manned oceanographic survey ships.)"
Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, if you want I think I still have my market survey on an old thumb drive...happy to give it to you as a starting point:)
or ask purdue university:
Agile underwater glider could quietly survey the seas - Purdue University News
Place-trading AUVs designed for longer oceanographic missions (newatlas.com)
looks like l-3/harris is going to get a contract soon :) The requirements seem tailor made
L3Harris’ IVER AUV: Multi-Mission Capability (defensenews.com)
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