BALTIMORE, MD — September 22, 2025 BlackSea Technologies (“BlackSea”), a leader in autonomous maritime systems, today announced the development of its new family of Modular Attack Surface Craft (MASC) unmanned surface vessels (USVs) designed to meet the U.S. Navy’s call for modular, multi-mission combatants. Submitted under Solicitation N00024-25-R-6314, BlackSea’s MASC solution delivers a mission-driven, production-ready platform to accelerate the Navy’s transition to a distributed and survivable future fleet.

In July 2025, the U.S. Navy issued a solicitation inviting industry to propose modular surface vessels capable of executing a broad range of missions including; anti-surface warfare, strike operations, electronic warfare, mine countermeasures, and logistics—through containerized, rapidly reconfigurable payloads. BlackSea’s proposed 66-foot aluminum catamaran was purpose-built to exceed these requirements.

Mission-Driven Design

Unlike retrofitted commercial hulls, BlackSea’s MASC USV was designed from the keel up to maximize payload access, capacity, and operational flexibility.

The BlackSea MASC vessel offers:

• 67,200 pounds of payload capacity and 900 ft² of open deck space

• 198 kWe electrical power to support advanced sensors and weapon systems

• 3,000 nm range at 10 knots and extended self-deploying range to 10,000 nm

• Top speed of 25 knots, enabling responsive, long-endurance operations

With twice the payload area and electrical power of similar-sized vessels, the platform supports seven mission profiles out of the box: Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW), Electronic Warfare/ISR, Logistics, Infrastructure Monitoring, Strike, and Mine Warfare (MCM/MIW).

“Our approach starts with the mission, not the platform,” said Todd Greene, Deputy Director of Advanced Technology at BlackSea. “We designed a flexible, modular combatant that can evolve with the Fleet and be built at scale today, not years from now.”

Production-Ready and Rapidly Scalable

Leveraging its proven Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft (GARC) production line, currently producing one craft per day at BlackSea’s Baltimore facility, the company is prepared to build and deliver the first fully integrated MASC prototype within six months.

The design shares 75% commonality with BlackSea’s fielded GARC systems, ensuring supply chain resilience and rapid integration of existing autonomy, command-and-control, and perception subsystems.

The hull form, derived from BlackSea’s operational GARC platform, uses slender twin aluminum hulls for low drag and high stability—enabling safe launch and recovery of containerized payloads. Marine-grade aluminum construction aligns with existing shipyard skillsets.

Powering the craft are dual Volvo Penta D8-IPS600 integrated propulsion units, eliminating shaft alignment during assembly and supported by a global logistics network. The open architecture is built natively on the Navy’s Unmanned Maritime Autonomy Architecture (UMAA), enabling plug-and-play autonomy integration and preventing vendor lock-in.

Enabling the Navy’s Future Fleet

The Navy’s MASC program consolidates the goals of its earlier Large and Medium USV initiatives, seeking modular, containerized surface combatants to distribute lethality across the Fleet. By combining proven autonomy systems, fielded production methods, and a design tailored to naval missions, BlackSea’s MASC USV offers the Navy a decisive advantage in speed to fleet, operational flexibility, and long-term scalability.

“Fleet modernization demands bold steps,” said Chris Devine, CEO of BlackSea. “With our MASC solution, the Navy can field a family of unmanned combatants that are mission-driven, production-ready, and built to scale.”

About BlackSea Technologies 

BlackSea Technologies is a premier naval technology firm enabling new asymmetric strategies so U.S. Naval and military forces can prevail over the next several decades in multi-dimensional conflicts.  We deliver innovative maritime systems and mission solutions to our nation’s warfighters from the ocean surface to the seabed. 

For more information about BlackSea, please visit our web site and follow us on LinkedIn.