Huntington Ingalls (HII) has announced that its REMUS 300 has been selected as the US Navy’s next generation small UUV (SUUV) programme of record. REMUS 300 has been designed to advance distributed maritime operations by conducting critical underwater missions.

The initial phase of the programme includes the production and testing of REMUS 300 UUVs over the next year. According to HII, the vehicle incorporates advanced modularity and open architecture into a compact, man-portable design.

The SUUV programme, also called LIONFISH, is the next generation Mk18 Mod 1 SWORDFISH programme, which also utilises 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, HII writes.

JH