“HII is proud that ROMULUS USV has advanced to the U.S. Navy’s Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel evaluation phase, a milestone that reflects HII’s longstanding track record for delivering mission-ready autonomous capabilities that support the U.S. Navy’s evolving operational requirements,” said Andy Green, executive vice president of HII and president of HII’s Mission Technologies division.
Green said the ROMULUS USV is based on HII’s experience in autonomous unmanned maritime systems and supported by the company’s Odyssey Autonomous Control Solutions. He described Odyssey as “a proven autonomy software suite and a key differentiator of our solution.”
“At the core of the ROMULUS USV is HII’s extensive experience as a global leader in autonomous unmanned maritime systems, combined with HII’s Odyssey Autonomous Control Solutions, a proven autonomy software suite and a key differentiator of our solution,” Green said. “Demonstrated across programs supporting the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Coast Guard, and allied partners, Odyssey enables intuitive command and control of autonomous platforms and swarms across domains, enhancing fleet lethality, survivability, and operational effectiveness.”
According to HII, ROMULUS combines advanced autonomy, scalable platform design and efficient manufacturing in a production-ready system. The company said the vessel is engineered for distributed maritime operations and integrated manned-unmanned teaming.
“ROMULUS brings together advanced autonomy, scalable platform design, and efficient manufacturing in a production-ready solution engineered to meet the demands of distributed maritime operations and integrated manned-unmanned teaming,” Green said. “Its endurance, flexibility, and payload capacity provide the operational versatility required for future naval missions.”
Green said HII welcomed the Navy’s confidence in the platform and would demonstrate its performance during the next phase. “We appreciate the U.S. Navy’s confidence in ROMULUS and look forward to demonstrating the platform’s maturity, reliability, and operational effectiveness in support of the service’s vision for autonomous maritime operations.”
HII said its Odyssey Autonomous Control Solutions are deployed on REMUS unmanned underwater vehicles and ROMULUS unmanned surface vessel platforms in 30 countries. The company said the system transforms vehicles into intelligent robotic systems.
Odyssey Advanced Autonomy Solutions provide multi-vehicle collaborative autonomy, sensor fusion and advanced perception capabilities. HII said the software can be applied at the vehicle, module and algorithm levels across different platforms, sensors, payloads and mission profiles.
The ROMULUS family of unmanned surface vessels is designed to meet current and emerging requirements of the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, joint forces and allied partners. HII said the vessels provide high-endurance, sustained open-ocean autonomy with a focus on lethality, cost, efficiency and scalability.
The company said ROMULUS vessels will support missions including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, counter-unmanned air systems, mine countermeasures and strike. They are also intended to support the launch and recovery of unmanned underwater vehicles and unmanned aerial vehicles.
When paired with HII’s REMUS unmanned underwater vehicles, ROMULUS extends undersea reach, according to the company. HII said the combination supports a scalable dual-domain force package for distributed maritime operations.
