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HII was awarded a U.S. Navy contract to build 10 ROMULUS unmanned surface vessels for the Medium unmanned surface vessel program, a step described as advancing the Navy’s move from experimentation to fleet-scale deployment of autonomous capabilities across the maritime domain.
“HII has made deliberate, early investments in the development of autonomous systems, advancing capabilities essential to the Navy’s hedge strategy,” said Chris Kastner, HII president and CEO. “We remain firmly committed to supporting the U.S. Navy’s vision and accelerating this critical capability from production to operational deployment.”
The company highlighted shipbuilding expertise and a track record in autonomous systems, citing its Odyssey Autonomous Control Solutions at the core of ROMULUS. The autonomy suite is described as combat-tested and designed to enable trusted, coordinated operations across surface and undersea domains. HII says it has delivered more than 750 REMUS unmanned underwater vehicles to customers in more than 30 countries, and that ROMULUS, REMUS and Odyssey ACS collectively provide a scalable foundation for autonomous maritime operations supporting U.S. and allied fleets.
HII said it laid groundwork in 2025 to move quickly from design to construction of ROMULUS, building a partner network, production capacity, supplier base and infrastructure to accelerate delivery, reduce production risk and create a scalable path for fielding unmanned surface capabilities.
“Unmanned vessels ultimately must be built, integrated, tested and sustained as part of a fleet,” said Andy Green, president of HII’s Mission Technologies division. “As the nation’s largest shipbuilder, HII understands that challenge from both sides. By pairing our advanced cutting-edge technologies with our shipbuilding expertise, and leveraging experienced regional partners and suppliers, we are creating a production ecosystem capable of delivering reliable autonomous platforms at the pace and scale the U.S. Navy requires.”
Odyssey ACS is described as a modular, open-architecture autonomy suite developed from decades of work on unmanned maritime systems. It is designed to enable consistent, predictable autonomous behavior; provide decision-making for perception, navigation, onboard system and payload management; coordinate with manned and unmanned platforms; and execute complex missions with limited human intervention. Its open architecture is intended to speed integration of new sensors, command-and-control technologies and AI algorithms so ROMULUS can be upgraded for evolving threat environments.
HII, working with Applied Intuition, Greenroom Robotics and Rodi Marine, reported completing the evaluation phase of the MUSV program. The Navy-monitored testing, conducted in the Gulf of America over 13 days, assessed performance under demanding real-world conditions. In the most rigorous event, a long-endurance mission simulation, the autonomy system completed a 420-nautical-mile mission over 28 hours, meeting established success criteria.
To scale production, HII is combining its experience with a distributed model that leverages regional shipbuilders and manufacturers. Gulf Coast build partners include Breaux Brothers Enterprises, Halimar Shipyard and Bayou Metal Supply & Manufacturing in Louisiana, with development in partnership with Beier Integrated Systems and Incat Crowther. The company also announced a 10,000-square-foot expansion to increase capacity at its existing 40,000-square-foot unmanned manufacturing campus to build, develop and integrate advanced unmanned and autonomous maritime systems for both REMUS UUVs and ROMULUS USVs.
The production approach calls for major components and assemblies to be built efficiently ahead of final vessel integration, with the goal of increasing throughput and creating a repeatable architecture that can scale across the ROMULUS family.
