# Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicles — Program Element 0604031N

**Program element:** 0604031N  
**Component:** U.S. Navy  
**Appropriation:** 1319 — RDT&E, Navy  
**Budget Activity:** 4 — Advanced Component Development & Prototypes  
**Vintage:** President's Budget PB2027  
**Canonical URL:** https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604031N

## Summary

U.S. Navy requests $0.0M in FY2027. In the FY2027 defense authorization, the Senate added $120.0M (to $120.0M).

## Funding profile

| Fiscal Year | Estimate Type | Amount ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | Actual | 6.8 |
| FY2026 | Enacted | 0.0 |
| FY2027 | Request | 0.0 |
| FY2028 | Outyear | 0.0 |
| FY2029 | Outyear | 0.0 |
| FY2030 | Outyear | 0.0 |
| FY2031 | Outyear | 0.0 |

> Estimate types are not summed — the profile mixes actuals, enacted law, the request, and outyear projections.

## Congressional marks (FY2027)

| Stage | Marked ($M) | Change ($M) |
|---|---|---|
| Request | 0.0 | — |
| Senate NDAA (SASC) | 120.0 | +120.0 |

> FY2027 NDAA authorization marks, as of 2026-07-27. Not appropriations or final law.

## Projects (1)

| Project | Title | FY2025 actual | FY2026 enacted | FY2027 request | Move |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2094 | Unmanned Underwater Vehicle | 6.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — |

> Projects are the summable leaves: the program element total is their sum, never added to it.

### Project 2094 — Unmanned Underwater Vehicle

Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (UUVs) are part of the Navy's family of UUVs, in support of maintaining the Navy's undersea superiority. They are designed with mission sensors, communications, power, navigation, autonomy and target recognition, and payloads. Large UUVs provide the Navy with significantly increased endurance and payload capacity over small and medium class UUVs. They are deployed from vessels of opportunity and piers. The Navy initially developed the Snakehead Program to meet the requirement for large UUV. The Snakehead LUUV program was a CNO/ASN(RDA) approved Accelerated Acquisition that had a phased approach to grow capabilities at a manageable level of risk. The Snakehead Program is cancelled, starting in FY 2026. The Dragonfish LUUV program was developed to meet this requirement. The Dragonfish LUUV is a rapid and iterative prototyping project that addresses a priority Fleet requirement for a below-water Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) task with classification of targets of interest and activation of a purpose-built payload. The system consists of a vehicle, a payload, and a support system. The Dragonfish LUUV is a follow-on effort to a Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) Commercial Solutions Opening (CSO) that assessed commercially available LUUVs. The project is rapidly prototyping with V1 vehicles and conducting in-water, system-level testing. This will inform prototyping for V2 vehicles, which are intended to be Minimal Viable Products (MVPs).

| Activity (R-2A) | FY2025 | FY2026 | FY2027 |
|---|---|---|---|
| LDUUV Product Development | 5.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| LDUUV Support | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| LDUUV Management Services | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 |

> R-2A activities carry the prior, current and budget year only — no five-year plan. Coverage is partial, so count them, never total them.

## Mission & acquisition strategy

Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicles (UUVs) are part of the Navy's family of UUVs, in support of maintaining the Navy's undersea superiority. They are designed with mission sensors, communications, power, navigation, autonomy and target recognition, and payloads. Large UUVs provide the Navy with significantly increased endurance and payload capacity over small and medium class UUVs. They are deployed from vessels of opportunity and piers. The Navy initially developed the Snakehead Program to meet the requirement for large UUV. The Snakehead LUUV program was a CNO/ASN(RDA) approved Accelerated Acquisition that had a phased approach to grow capabilities at a manageable level of risk.

The Dragonfish LUUV leverages an assessment of commercially available LUUVs conducted in FY 2024 with the Defense Innovation Unit's Commercial Solution Opening. The project uses rapid and iterative prototyping to design, develop, test, and fabricate a fleet capability.

## Related program elements

- [0604668F — JTMS Development](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604668F) (Air Force)
- [0604222F — Nuclear Weapons Support](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604222F) (Air Force)
- [0604028N — Small/Medium Unmanned Undersea Vehicles](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0604028N) (Navy)
- [0605512N — MEDIUM UNMANNED SURFACE VEHICLES (MUSVs)](https://hitchintel.com/programs/0605512N) (Navy)

## Source & machine access

- **Source:** FY2027 Department of the Navy RDT&E Budget Justification, Exhibits R-2/R-3, PE 0604031N (PB PB2027); FY2027 NDAA committee marks (as of 2026-07-27).
- **MCP:** `mcp.hitchintel.com` — `budget_get_program_element(pe="0604031N")`.

*HitchAI is an independent intelligence service, not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Defense. Budget figures are requests/estimates, not obligations.*