The company reported that its autonomy system completed a 420-nautical-mile endurance mission simulation in 28 hours during U.S. Navy-monitored testing. HII said the mission met all established success criteria during a 13-day evaluation in the Gulf of America.
Odyssey uses a modular, open architecture designed to accommodate new sensors, command-and-control technologies and artificial intelligence algorithms. The software also supports coordination between surface and undersea systems, providing a common foundation for ROMULUS vessels and REMUS underwater vehicles.
“Unmanned vessels ultimately must be built, integrated, tested and sustained as part of a fleet,” said Andy Green, president of HII’s Mission Technologies division. “By pairing our advanced cutting-edge technologies with our shipbuilding expertise, and leveraging experienced regional partners and suppliers, we are creating a production ecosystem capable of delivering reliable autonomous platforms at the pace and scale the U.S. Navy requires.”
HII began securing partners, production capacity, suppliers and infrastructure for ROMULUS in 2025. Its production model allows components and assemblies to be manufactured before final vessel integration, an approach the company says can increase throughput as demand grows.
Louisiana build partners include Breaux Brothers Enterprises, Halimar Shipyard and Bayou Metal Supply & Manufacturing. ROMULUS was developed with Beier Integrated Systems and Incat Crowther, while Applied Intuition, Greenroom Robotics and Rodi Marine partnered with HII during the MUSV evaluation phase.
The Navy has awarded HII a contract for 10 ROMULUS vessels under its Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel program. “We remain firmly committed to supporting the U.S. Navy’s vision and accelerating this critical capability from production to operational deployment,” said HII President and Chief Executive Chris Kastner.
HII also announced a 10,000-square-foot expansion of its existing 40,000-square-foot unmanned systems manufacturing campus to support ROMULUS and REMUS production and integration. The company has delivered more than 750 REMUS underwater vehicles to customers in more than 30 countries.
