The Naval Surface Warfare Center (Panama City Division) and the team of Northrop Grumman, Battelle, Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), and Riptide will demonstrate multi-platform autonomy, advanced communications and real-time mission awareness for battlespace preparation in a contested battle space.
Aerial, surface and underwater vehicles will demonstrate advanced mission capabilities through a relevant operational scenario while communicating real-time mission performance to remote operations headquarters.
The underwater mission segment will focus on Proteus, an underwater vehicle developed by Battelle and HII’s Technical Solutions division. Measuring 25 feet in length and 64 inches in diameter and weighing in at 8,000 pounds, it can be operated in both manned or unmanned functions.
As a mission-ready autonomous platform, Proteus will enter a battle space to deliver and launch multiple smaller unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) with unique roles in the overall mission objective.
When launched, the Riptide micro-UUVs and REMUS UUV will execute the mission plans according to their onboard sensors and payloads to investigate and prepare the contested environment.
“This is a great opportunity to join our industry and government partners to test the type of technologies that will be needed to face emerging threats, ” said Fred Byus , RDML, USN (Ret.), vice president and general manager of Battelle’s Mission and Defense Technologies business. “It’s a priority for the Navy and a priority for us.”