The milestone follows the delivery and sea testing of two Watcher ROMULUS-25 vessels in December 2025 under a DIU contract supporting the U.S. Marine Corps. HII developed the system with MetalCraft Marine and integrated its Odyssey Autonomous Control System to manage autonomous navigation and mission execution.
In a memorandum to HII, DIU said: “The HII Watcher sUSV has successfully demonstrated its appropriateness to address the Department of the Navy’s operational need for sUSV interceptors, capable of autonomously transiting hundreds of miles through contested waterspace, loitering in an assigned operating area while monitoring for maritime surface threats, and then sprinting to interdict a noncooperative, maneuvering vessel.” DIU also concluded that HII met the prototype’s key technical objectives and success metrics, supporting a potential transition to production under Other Transaction Authority prototype agreements.
The two autonomous vessels completed government-led assessments covering autonomy, seakeeping, performance and operations in degraded environments. They also demonstrated advanced autonomous mission behaviors across a range of operational scenarios during extensive at-sea testing.
“This milestone is another example of HII’s strategy to rapidly transition innovative technologies from concept to operational capability,” said Duane Fotheringham, president of the Unmanned Systems group within HII’s Mission Technologies division. “As demand for autonomous systems continues to grow, HII remains focused on delivering proven, mission-ready autonomous solutions that strengthen naval readiness and provide our customers with greater operational flexibility.”
ROMULUS-25 is a high-speed unmanned surface interceptor capable of carrying payloads of up to 1,000 pounds and operating at ranges of up to 1,000 nautical miles. Its Odyssey control system uses a modular open systems architecture for navigation, mission planning, collaborative behaviors and autonomous operations across different vehicle types.
HII said Odyssey can also support AI-enabled contact recognition, identification and edge-based decision-making. Its service-based architecture is designed to allow integration with additional mission technologies as operational requirements change.
“The Watcher was engineered and built to deliver the speed, seakeeping, strength and reliability demanded by this mission,” said Mike Reed, General Manager of MetalCraft Marine. “Successfully completing the government-led autonomy, seakeeping, performance and degraded-environment assessments confirms the quality of the aluminum platform and the discipline behind its design and construction.”
The PRIME initiative sought commercially available, production-ready autonomous surface vessels for maritime expeditionary operations. HII was selected to design, build and demonstrate its solution after a competition that attracted 116 solution briefs.
HII is positioning Watcher and ROMULUS alongside its REMUS unmanned underwater vehicles and Odyssey autonomy software as part of an integrated maritime systems portfolio. The company said the platforms can operate independently or collaboratively to extend fleet reach, improve maritime awareness and support naval operations across surface and undersea domains.
