Maritime Applied Physics Corporation has been awarded a U.S. Navy contract for a concept design study of a 2,200-ton prototype minesweeper. The contract is under sponsorship of Naval Sea Systems Command's Small Business Innovation Research Program. The craft will incorporate the company's proprietary Hydrofoil Small Waterplane Area Ship (HYSWAS) technology that has been developed jointly with the Naval Surface Warfare Center. As designed, it will be capable of sustained high-speed, trans-oceanic self deployment.
Payloads will include a wide array of newly emerging autonomous and semi-autonomous mission systems that can be rapidly deployed from the vessel while on station.