Man-Portable AUV: India procurement notice

Development and reported outcome

NSTL issued a 2026 GeM service requirement for technical support during preparation, testing, and dynamic trials of a man-portable autonomous underwater vehicle. The work supports the MP-AUV capability developed for mine-countermeasure missions and covers technical assistance at NSTL and designated test locations. The official GeM document was not reliably accessible during validation, so the tender is retained while exact bid metadata carries a source-access caveat; no award, vehicle quantity, or final contract value is inferred.[S1] [S2]

Program, platform and stakeholders

Programme or contract: GEM/2026/B/7073216 - Technical services for Man-Portable AUV preparation, testing and dynamic trials. Platform or product: Man-Portable AUV. Platform classification: Autonomous Operated Vehicle. Recorded supplier, developer or relevant organization: DRDO / Naval Science & Technological Laboratory (reported headquarters/country: India). Recorded customer, operator or intended user: DRDO / NSTL; Indian Navy capability context (reported headquarters/country: India).[S1] [S2]

Mission and technical scope

The following are classifications recorded in the source master, not additional claims of operational deployment: Mission/use-case classification: Mine Countermeasures / Technology Demonstration / Testbed.

Contract, value and shipment signals

Delivery schedule, procurement window or milestone status: Bid closed Jan. 30, 2026; subsequent award not publicly confirmed. Recorded contractual duration: Planned 1 year 1 month.[S1] [S2]

Source verification and interpretation limits

UXV Searcher master source-coverage note: The formal GeM URL is retained as the primary procurement record but was not reliably accessible during audit. Accessible procurement reporting shows publication on 12-Jan-2026 and supports the MP-AUV preparation/testing/dynamic-trial services scope; any earlier GeM document-generation date remains unverified.

Interpretation boundary: The tender, notice or request stage does not by itself prove a signed contract, selected supplier, or physical delivery.[S1] [S2]

UXV Searcher analysis — what the development changes

UXV Searcher interpretation — procurement requirement / tender: The India UUV record for GEM/2026/B/7073216 - Technical services for Man-Portable AUV preparation, testing and dynamic trials is best treated as a procurement pipeline signal. A published requirement can indicate addressable demand, but it is not an award, supplier revenue, shipment, or fleet increase.

Traceability for buyers: The dataset associates DRDO / Naval Science & Technological Laboratory with DRDO / NSTL; Indian Navy capability context for Man-Portable AUV. This supports stakeholder mapping; supply-chain tier, exclusivity and signed-customer relationships need the underlying source before firm classification.

Client-use interpretation: For intelligence users tracking Mine Countermeasures / Technology Demonstration / Testbed, the relevant next proof points are mine-countermeasures requirements, autonomy integration and acceptance milestones. Track the award notice, signed value and accepted delivery quantities before upgrading this demand signal.[S1] [S2]

Quantitative evidence, calculations and limits

Quantification limit: No sufficiently attributed contract value or physical platform count is disclosed for this record. UXV Searcher leaves these fields unavailable rather than treating non-disclosure as zero or applying an unsupported market average.

The useful output is a qualitative stage and stakeholder signal, not a numerical forecast.[S1] [S2]