Page 22: of Marine Technology Magazine (January 2024)

INTERVIEW DUANE FOTHERINGHAM, HII MISSION TECHNOLOGIES

Image courtesy HII

REMUS 620

Last month we visited with Duane Fotheringham, President, Unmanned Systems,

HII Mission Technologies division, for insights on the new REMUS 620.

Can you summarize the key techni- for the U.S. Navy’s Lion? sh System cal highlights that you believe de- program. The Lion? sh System is based ? ne the REMUS 620. on HII’s REMUS 300. The contract has

The REMUS 620 is a completely modu- the potential to grow to as many as 200 lar and open architecture platform de- vehicles over the next ? ve years with a signed to be easily recon? gurable and to total value of more than $347m.] We carry a wide range of payloads. A great started detailed design of the vehicle in example of the modularity is the energy October 2022 with the goal of having an system. It can carry 1 to 3 energy modules operational vehicle in the water within 12 that when using a Li-Ion batteries pro- months. We did precisely that with the vides up to 110 hrs/275nm of range. The completed vehicle going into the test pool open architecture interfaces allow the in- in October 2023. The new REMUS 620 tegration of 3rd party software and com- completed its ? rst sea trials in December patibility with open architecture standards 2023. We will continue testing this de- such as the U.S. Navy’s Unmanned Mari- velopment vehicle in 2024 and start con- time Autonomy Architecture (UMAA). struction of the ? rst two production ve-

Duane Fotheringham, hicles for delivery to NOAA in mid-2024.

President, Unmanned

How about a ‘By the Numbers’ look We went from concept to in the water in

Systems, HII Mission at the REMUS 620 that give size 12 months and we will deliver a produc-

Technologies division and scope to its development and tion vehicle to the customer in under 24 delivery later this year? months. The REMUS 620 was developed

We have been developing the concept for a new medium completely on internal development funding and was com- class vehicle for some time, based upon everything we learned pleted on time and on budget. While we don’t divulge actual on the REMUS 300. [In October 2023, HII was awarded the numbers, I can say that it was a signi? cant investment by HII. contract to build small unmanned undersea vehicles (SUUV) We believe this is the most capable medium sized UUV in the 22 January/February 2024

MTR #1 (18-33).indd 22 1/30/2024 8:34:57 PM