Mission Technologies, a division of the US naval prime HII, has received a second order for the Remus 620 uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV) from an unnamed Indo-Pacific nation for an undisclosed amount.
HII will build and deliver the customised, medium-class Remus 620 UUV in 2024. The customer will deploy the system for monitoring and data collection missions.
Unveiled in 2022, the Remus 620 has a battery life of up to 110 hours and a range of 275 nautical miles, providing unmatched mission capabilities for mine countermeasures, hydrographic surveys, intelligence collection, surveillance and electronic warfare.
Remus 620 achieved two significant development milestones in 2023 with a successful in-water test in October and first sea test in December.
It builds on its predecessor, a small-class UUV – the Remus 300 – which had been originally manufactured by Hydroid, formerly a subsidiary of the Norwegian aerospace and defence company Kongsberg, until HII acquired the company for $350m in March 2020.
“Retaining a forward strategic advantage requires the ability to deliver a multitude of effects from under the sea,” said Duane Fotheringham, president of Mission Technologies’ Unmanned Systems business group. “The REMUS 620 is the first medium UUV designed to accurately deliver this range of advanced above-and-below water effects at long range.”
Remus 620 features a modular, open architecture design to facilitate payload integration and HII’s Odyssey suite of advanced autonomy solutions for intelligent, robotic platforms.
It is the same size and weight of the first and only full-rate production medium UUVs: the Mk 18 Mod 2, Littoral Battleship Sensing-Autonomous Undersea Vehicle and LBS-Razorback systems operated by the US Navy’s Mine Countermeasure Squadrons, US Naval Oceanographic Office and Submarine Forces, respectively.
Multiple Remus 620s operating collaboratively can be deployed from submarines, small crewed or uncrewed boats, amphibious ships, surface combatants and helicopters. It can also be used as a platform to launch and operate other unmanned vehicles or payloads from beneath the sea.
