Naval Sea Systems Command awarded a $650,102,911 ceiling multiple-award indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract on May 1 to eight firms for the procurement of up to 474 composite rigid hull inflatable boats, with an initial combined award value of $325,944,120. The eight awardees are ASIS Boats USA LLC of Annapolis, Maryland; a Franklinton, North Carolina manufacturer; a Holland, Michigan firm; a Marblehead, Massachusetts company; a Palatka, Florida company; a Melbourne, Florida company; a Gulfport, Mississippi manufacturer; and an Edenton, North Carolina company. First delivery orders are expected to be issued in July 2026. The 10-year ordering period, combined with the 474-boat procurement quantity, represents one of the largest RHIB competitive vehicle launches in NAVSEA's small craft acquisition history and reflects the Navy's sustained investment in composite construction technology for the small boat mission set.
What RHIBs Do and Why Composite Construction Matters
Rigid hull inflatable boats are semi-rigid watercraft in which a fiberglass, aluminum, or composite hull is combined with inflatable sponsons — air-filled tubes running along the sides — that provide buoyancy and stability even when the vessel is damaged or partially swamped. RHIBs are exceptionally seaworthy for their size, capable of operating in sea states that would immobilize conventional small craft of the same length. They are used extensively by Navy SEAL teams for maritime insertion and extraction operations, by surface combatants for visit, board, search, and seizure missions against suspect vessels, by ship security teams for force protection at port and at anchor, and by coast guard and military police units for harbor security and law enforcement. The Navy operates RHIBs from the well decks of amphibious assault ships, from the davits of surface combatants, and from purpose-built small craft stations at overseas naval facilities.
Composite construction — using fiber-reinforced polymer materials rather than traditional fiberglass or aluminum — reduces weight significantly while improving structural stiffness, resistance to corrosion, and fatigue life in the marine environment. Composite RHIBs can be constructed with lower radar cross-section characteristics than metal-hulled alternatives, an increasing priority for special operations boats that need to minimize detectability during clandestine maritime operations. The all-composite hull also simplifies maintenance in forward-deployed environments where welding and metal repair capabilities may be limited. The Navy's shift toward composite RHIBs in this vehicle reflects both the maturation of composite marine construction technology and the operational performance advantages that special operations and fleet customers have documented from composite boats already in service.
The Eight-Firm Pool and Industrial Base Geography
The geographic distribution of the eight awardees — spanning Maryland, North Carolina, Michigan, Massachusetts, Florida, Mississippi — reflects the diffuse nature of the American composite marine manufacturing industry. Unlike large defense shipbuilding, where construction is concentrated at a handful of major yards, composite small boat manufacturing is spread among specialty marine builders that serve both military and commercial markets. Firms like ASIS Boats, which is the U.S. subsidiary of an Australian marine manufacturer with a long track record in military RHIB programs, compete alongside domestic manufacturers that have built their military presence on the strength of commercial marine construction experience. The eight-firm pool structure — rather than a single award to one manufacturer — is NAVSEA's standard approach for high-quantity small craft procurements, as it maintains supplier competition at the task order level and preserves the industrial base diversity needed if one manufacturer experiences capacity constraints during surge requirements.
What It Means for Contractors
Pool members now hold the primary vehicle through which NAVSEA will procure composite RHIBs for a decade. For firms outside the pool, this vehicle is closed, but the broader naval small craft market continues to generate additional opportunities.
- Pool members should engage NAVSEA's Program Manager for Combatant Craft (PMS 325) immediately after vehicle award to understand the planned delivery order release schedule and priority vessel configurations; early conversations about delivery order requirements allow manufacturers to manage material procurement and production scheduling more efficiently than responding to task orders cold.
- Suppliers of inflatable sponson material, marine propulsion systems, navigation electronics, and deck hardware should engage all eight pool members for subcontracting opportunities; composite RHIB bills of material are heavily weighted toward commercial-off-the-shelf components from established marine suppliers rather than proprietary military hardware, making this accessible to commercial marine suppliers with existing Coast Guard or Navy small craft experience.
- Firms outside the current pool should monitor NAVSEA's small craft contracting forecast for parallel vehicles covering aluminum hull RHIBs, combat rubber raiding craft, and the Navy's developing autonomous small boat programs, which are funded on separate vehicles and remain open for future competition.
- Special operations command customers — primarily Naval Special Warfare Command and Marine Raiders — have separate procurement authorities for highly customized special mission boats that operate outside the NAVSEA RHIB vehicle; firms with special operations boat experience should engage NSW Command's acquisition office directly for these opportunities.
Special Operations and Fleet Customer Requirements
The RHIB program serves two distinct customer communities with overlapping but not identical requirements. Navy SEAL teams and Naval Special Warfare Command operate RHIBs as primary maritime mobility platforms, and their requirements emphasize low observability, payload flexibility, and the ability to integrate specialized communications and sensor equipment. Fleet customers — surface combatants, amphibious ships, and naval stations — operate RHIBs primarily for visit-board-search-and-seizure missions, force protection, and harbor security, and their requirements emphasize reliability, ease of maintenance by general service sailors, and compatibility with standard davit and well-deck handling systems. The eight-firm pool approach allows NAVSEA to issue task orders that are optimized for each customer community, selecting manufacturers whose designs best match the specific mission requirements of a particular delivery order without being constrained to a single vendor whose design may not be ideal for all use cases. The 10-year ordering period means that as Naval Special Warfare Command and fleet customers refine their requirements through operational experience with early-lot composite RHIBs, they can direct subsequent task orders toward manufacturers whose designs address the specific lessons learned from fielded vessels — a degree of flexibility that a single-award contract would not provide. Subcontractors providing marine electronics, inflatable sponson systems, outboard propulsion, and deck hardware should engage all eight awardees to understand their sourcing preferences and qualification standards.