Naval Special Warfare is in the process of taking delivery of the new Mark 11 SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV) in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. According to SOCOM’s maritime program executive officer, Captain Kate Dolloff, two of these Mark 11s have already arrived, allowing SEAL SDV operators to begin the familiarization process.

The Mark 11 will replace the older Mark 8 SDV. This new version is slightly larger, measuring 22 feet in length; it weighs 4,000 pounds more. SDV Team 1’s command acknowledged that the older Mark 8’s were becoming obsolete. The Mark 11 still requires all operators to have to wear wetsuits and scuba gear, but the payload capacity has increased and the navigational equipment has been greatly improved. Just like the Mark 8, the Mark 11 is transported and deployed via a Dry Deck Shelter, attached to a large submarine.

Teledyne Brown Engineering was awarded a $178 million contract back in October 2019, to build and deliver all 10 Mark 11’s. According to Teledyne Brown Engineering, this SDV is “specifically designed to insert and extract Special Operations Forces in high-threat areas.”

While at the Special Operations Forces Industry Conference, Dolloff claimed that “the big takeaway here is we’re fielding a much more capable platform to the fleet, and we’ve got it out there with the operators working on it now.”