Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Maritime Expeditionary Standoff Response Case History

Abstract

This will be a case history on the Mk 20 VideoRay remote operated vehicle (ROV) platform acquisition, application, and future developments for Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal’s Maritime Expeditionary Standoff Response (MESR) ROV program of record. Primary objectives of this case history included describing PMS 408 Expeditionary Mission's middle tier of acquisition (MTA) strategy, the use of rapid prototyping of commercial items to meet Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal EOD mission requirements, comparative analysis to determine factors that made the Mk 20 VideoRay successful in selection for MESR, describing iterative development and incremental fielding of hardware and software capabilities to support Navy EOD current and future mission requirements, and how MESR fits into the unmanned undersea arena. Using the MTA pathway, Other Transaction Authorities, and Defense Innovation Unit allowed the best of market and commercial technologies to be incorporated into the ROV prototypes. Over a multi-year user evaluation, a holistic comparative analysis between the two platforms utilized data gathered informing sustainability, supportability, reliability, and capability. This research ties a successful MTA with one of the leading technological fields employed in the undersea arena. The research supporting this study can be applied procedurally across the acquisition framework and through specific unmanned solutions applications.