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Navy Goes Fishing for a New Glide-Launched Torpedo
The U.S. Navy is seeking market research on industry ability to design, develop, test, and fabricate rapid-prototype options for an anti-submarine warfare standoff delivery system.
Sailors assigned to Patrol and Reconnaissance Squadron (VP) 30 loading a High Altitude Anti-submarine Warfare Capability (HAAWC) weapon system on a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft (Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Curtis Spencer)
The Navy wants to drop torpedoes on enemy submarines from a lot farther away, and NAVAIR's Strike Weapons Program Office (PMX-201) has just published a Request for Information (RFI) seeking industry input on the Silent Anvil Air-Launched Torpedo, or SAA-LT.
The concept requested is an unpowered, highly maneuverable glide vehicle that carries a torpedo well beyond the release aircraft, then delivers it quietly into the waters near the target area. The desired next-generation anti-submarine warfare (ASW) standoff system is intended to widen the pool of aircraft, both manned and unmanned, that can execute ASW missions.
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The program is seeking more information on the feasibility of either a weapon or an adapter: two design paths are on the table.
- Design Option 1 (End-to-End Solution): A complete, integrated SAA-LT solution from aircraft separation to the underwater target.
- Design Option 2 (Wing Kit Standoff Design): An unpropelled glide wing kit configured to carry a Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) / Government Furnished Information (GFI) effector (torpedo) to the target area.
Vendors may respond to either option or both and must demonstrate their plan to be able to create an “end-to-end prototype capability of the SAA-LT system within eighteen (18) months of agreement award.” Additionally, the RFI asks vendors to explain their plan to “rapidly assemble and deliver approximately one hundred eighty (180) prototype all-up-rounds (AURs) within the three (3) years following the successful end—to-end [sic] demonstration.”
The Navy made it clear that it is asking for information, not buying. This notice is their version of market research, a way to find out who could build the thing before deciding whether to hold a real competition. Nothing in the RFI commits the government to anything and companies that respond do so at their own expense. The Navy will not pay them for their ideas or their time. It is also worth noting that a response is not a bid. After all the submissions come in, the Navy can award nothing at all, no contract, no follow-on, and just walk away. If the process moves forward, production of munitions can be a long term process with many logistical considerations, but one or more vendors may be looking at a sole-source path to a fielded weapon, and a lucrative follow-on.
Since all submissions are voluntary, this also means that vendors can shop their ideas elsewhere if they so choose. The notice was posted August 25th, 2026 and responses are due by September 29th, 2026.
