POCASSET, Mass. — A joint team from HII, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and U.S. Navy’s Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division Newport recently completed a major milestone in advancing the U.S. Navy Submarine Force’s initiative to launch and recover autonomous undersea vehicles from submarine torpedo tubes.
A test by the joint team confirmed the compatibility of the REMUS 620 with the SAFECAP, Virginia-class submarine weapons handling and torpedo tube systems, and other critical interfaces.
Adrian Gonsalves, HII’s REMUS 620 product lead said, “This clears the way for continued testing in advance of an in-water end-to-end launch and recovery at a U.S. Navy test fixture facility later this summer."
HII’s next-generation medium uncrewed underwater vehicle (MUUV) fitted with WHOI’s Yellow Moray docking technology, successfully completed a full end-to-end dry checkout of the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle/Shock and Fire Enclosure Capsule (AUV/SAFECAP) “All-Up Round” (AUR) in the Virginia-class Cradle Payload Integration Facility (VCCPIF) and its Mk71 torpedo tube. This follows USS Delaware (SSN 791), built by HII, successfully completing the first-ever forward-deployed launch and recovery of a UUV via submarine torpedo tube with the Yellow Moray equipped REMUS 600 UUV.
HII is expanding the U.S. Navy’s undersea dominance and range with state-of-the-art REMUS technology and delivery.
