The US Navy and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has selected L3Harris Technologies to provide an unmanned undersea vehicle for expeditionary undersea missions for US military forces.
DIU, which accelerates commercial technology to solve national security solutions, awarded an Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) to L3Harris for the US Navy’s Next Generation Small-Class Maritime Expeditionary Mine Countermeasures Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (MEMUUV) program.
The award includes the delivery and testing of an Iver4 – 900 PW UUV and two field swappable modular payload sections, including real aperture and synthetic aperture sonars.
Additional sensors, swappable battery chemistries and data solutions are included with the prototype system to provide US military forces with a highly capable UUV that can detect, classify, localise and identify targets on the ocean floor and in the water column in support of Expeditionary Mine Countermeasures (ExMCM), Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and undersea search operations.
L3Harris Unmanned Maritime Systems vice-president and general manager Daryl Slocum said: “The Iver4 is the culmination of many years of UUV development, customer feedback and application knowledge for military applications.
“This platform has been custom-built to address the needs of the ExMCM and EOD communities. With its flexible payload, transportable package, extended endurance and high-performance accuracy, the Iver4 is leading the next generation of small class UUVs. We are honoured to receive DIU’s award and look forward to bringing the Iver4 to the warfighter.”
L3Harris Technologies is an agile global aerospace and defence technology innovator, delivering end-to-end solutions that meet customers’ mission-critical needs. The company provides advanced defence and commercial technologies across air, land, sea, space and cyber domains. L3Harris generates approximately $17 billion in annual revenue and has 50,000 employees, with customers in 130 countries.