US shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) has introduced a new modular, AI-enabled family of unmanned surface vessels (USV).
The new vessels are powered by HII’s autonomous control system software suite and are designed to meet the current and emerging requirements of the US Navy, US Marine Corps, and allied forces.
The flagship of the new family, the Romulus 190, is currently under construction in partnership with Breaux Brothers and Beier Integrated Systems.
The 190-foot (58-metre) vessel is designed for speeds exceeding 25 knots and is capable of a minimum range of 2,500 nautical miles (4,630 kilometres) while carrying four 40-foot intermodal containers on its payload deck.
HII stated that this new USV family is designed to deliver high-endurance, sustained open-ocean autonomy with a focus on lethality, cost efficiency, and scalability.
The reconfigurable design supports a range of missions, including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), strike operations, and the launch and recovery of unmanned undersea and aerial vehicles.
Chris Kastner, HII President and CEO, commented, “We are delivering a mission-ready, swarm USV capability built for the next generation of operations.”
