US Navy autonomous future

US shipbuilder HII's Odyssey autonomy system has completed US Navy evaluation at sea, and the first ROMULUS 151 unmanned surface vessel (USV) hull has been structurally completed in Louisiana. The evaluation, under the Navy's Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) programme, has led to an order for 10 ROMULUS vessels that was announced on 29 September.

The Navy monitored testing over the course of 13 days in the Gulf. The most demanding event was a long-endurance mission simulation, in which HII's autonomy system completed a 420nm mission over 28 hours and met all success criteria. HII ran the evaluation with Applied Intuition, Greenroom Robotics and Rodi Marine. According to the MUSV solicitation