The UK Royal Navy has placed an order with HII for six REMUS 300 small autonomous underwater vehicles (similar to this one). (Huntington Ingalls Industries)
The UK Royal Navy (RN) is acquiring six new REMUS 300 small autonomous underwater vehicles (SAUVs) from the Mission Technologies division of Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Unmanned Systems to support protection of the continuous at-sea deterrent (CASD), and expeditionary mine-countermeasures (MCM) operations.
Being delivered to the RN's Diving and Threat Exploitation Group (DTXG), the new 300 m-capable SAUVs will also inform the Mine Hunting Capability (MHC) programme, as well as providing an interchangeable capability with the US Navy (USN). The RN expects an in-service lifespan of 10 years.
HII's REMUS 300 is a two-man portable vehicle offering a depth rating of 305 m, increased modularity, and greater payload flexibility. The design is capable of missions of up to 30 hours duration, with endurance being conditioned by the size of the lithium-ion battery sections, and speeds of up to 5 kt.
REMUS 300 was developed and matured by HII Unmanned Systems during a two-year rapid prototyping effort involving multiple user evaluations and spiral developments, including assessment by the Naval Information Warfare Center. In March 2022, the vehicle was confirmed as the USN's next-generation small unmanned underwater vehicle (SUUV) programme of record, known as Lionfish. The SUUV acquisition was facilitated by the US Department of Defense's Defense Innovation Unit and its commercial solutions opening process via other transaction authority.
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