Global engineering and defense technologies provider Huntington Ingalls Industries has revealed that its unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) REMUS 300 was selected as the US Navy’s next-generation small UUV (SUUV) program of record.
REMUS 300 technology was designed to advance distributed maritime operations by conducting critical underwater missions.
The initial phase of the program includes the production and testing of REMUS 300 UUVs over the next year.
“HII is proud of our longstanding partnership with the U.S. Navy and now, to lead in this important direction on behalf of our customer,” said Chris Kastner , president and CEO of HII.
“This program demonstrates the value of our investment in autonomous and unmanned systems… We are confident that these technologies will both support the Navy mission and enhance effectiveness for the all-domain force.”
“REMUS UUVs have been extending the capabilities of the warfighter since they were first used in combat during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003,” Duane Fotheringham, president of the unmanned systems business group in HII’s Mission Technologies division, added.
“We’ve been enhancing, maturing and refining this technology since then, and are pleased the REMUS 300 meets needs for the Navy’s next generation UUV program.”
The SUUV program, also called Lionfish, is the next-generation Mk18 Mod 1 Swordfish program, which also uses HII’s REMUS technology.
The selection follows a two-year rapid prototyping effort involving multiple user evaluations and spiral developments to refine the REMUS 300 design. The acquisition was facilitated by the Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit and their commercial solutions opening process via the other transaction authority.