HADALUS completed a series of at-sea missions on a Navy undersea test range and successfully demonstrated its undersea launch capability while submerged. Raytheon said it was the first time the U.S. Navy had seen the integrated capability operating in the water.
The test supports a broader effort to develop a single unmanned undersea platform able to perform detect, reacquire and engage functions within one mission. Raytheon and CET are positioning the vehicle for autonomous undersea operations with lower detectability than surface platforms.
“This demonstration is an important step in a broader roadmap to deliver autonomous, end-to-end undersea capabilities that are far less detectable than surface platforms,” said Jen Gauthier, vice president of Naval Systems & Sustainment at Raytheon. “By tightly coupling design, integration and at-sea experimentation, we’ve proven we can bring new autonomous solutions to the fleet quickly and cost-effectively.”
HADALUS has a six-foot cross section and a free-flooded, all-carbon-fiber exoskeleton. Raytheon said the design provides strength and payload capacity while supporting a significantly lower-cost architecture.
Raytheon and CET moved from a conceptual sketch to a complete prototype and successful in-water demonstration in less than 18 months. Both companies invested in the vehicle’s design and build, launcher integration, sonar, electronics and full-system testing ahead of the Navy exercise.
“HADALUS demonstrates that the undersea industrial base can move with greater speed and dynamism than traditional development cycles allow,” said Chase Hogoboom, CEO and president of CET. “By combining CET’s advanced composite vehicle architecture with Raytheon’s mission systems, sensors and integration expertise, we have created a highly capable platform that can be produced at a fraction of the cost of conventional alternatives.”
The companies describe HADALUS as a scalable path to fielding lower-cost undersea capabilities with long endurance. The vehicle combines CET’s composite architecture with Raytheon mission systems, sensors and integration expertise.
