Navy Prototypes 3 New Autonomous UnderSea Drones

By Logan Williams, Warrior Editorial Fellow

The U.S. Navy has chosen three companies to present their prototypes for an autonomous, unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV). These three companies are industry leaders and, instead of developing a highly customized new platform, these three companies are expected to present their prototypes within a month. Each of the three companies – the Norwegian Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace, Oceaneering (based in my home state, in Gales Ferry, Connecticut), and Anduril Industries based in California, which specializes in marketing controversial technologies to the U.S. military – has a functioning UUV platform or prototype that they are marketing as suited to the Pentagon’s needs.

Anduril’s Dive-LD was the UUV of choice for Australia’s Royal Navy. These two entities have partnered to facilitate the co-development of a modified UUV for Austrlia’s defense needs within the Indo-Pacific, using primarily Australian labor and manufacturing infrastructure.

Oceaneering is a company which specializes in providing services to the petroleum industry, for offshore oil and gas drilling infrastructure; however, it has been a longtime U.S. Naval contractor, providing technology to support underwater operations, in particular, equipment for underwater submarine crew rescue.

Kongsberg offers the Hugin sub-surface, autonomous vehicle, which it has manufactured since the 1990s. the Hugin has also been the platform of choice for Italy’s Navy.

Anduril Dive-LD & Kongberg Hugin

Both Anduril’s Dive-LD and the Kongsberg Hugin can operate at 6,000 meters below the surface; however, the Dive-LD can operate for 10 days consecutively, whereas the Hugin has a maximum consecutive operation timeframe of 100 hours (approximately four days). The reduced operation timeframe of the Hugin is a severe, possibly critical, deficiency. Sub-surface operations within the contested waters of the Indo-Pacific region demand extended periods of time with no intervention by supporting forces, which may not be able to provide maintenance or support rapidly due to China’s anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) capabilities, the inability to partake in multi-week operations would render the Hugin next to useless as a capability for the U.S. Navy.

These submarines, at approximately 20-feet in length, are much smaller than the U.S. Navy’s planned XL-UUV, the Boeing Orca, which has faced several project and delivery delays.