In a separate demonstration during the ANTX exercise, the Bluefin-21 hosted acoustic sensors from industry and academia.

The Bluefin-21 AUV is modular and designed with the flexibility to carry and launch a variety of AUVs in configurations that include M-AUVs, larger AUVs, and unmanned aerial vehicles. For example, the Bluefin-21 AUV is the base vehicle for the Navy’s Knifefish program, a surface mine countermeasure unmanned underwater vehicle.

“Our successful ANTX demonstrations showed that unmanned vehicles can deliver capabilities across the undersea and air operating domains. This system of systems approach leverages Bluefin-21’s larger payload delivery, longer endurance and superior navigation capabilities to deliver smaller payloads such as autonomous underwater vehicles or unmanned aerial vehicles and sensors, providing the Navy with additional mission capabilities,” said Tracy Howard , a senior manager for Autonomous Undersea Vehicles for General Dynamics Mission Systems.