Incat Crowther Joins HII on U.S. Navy ROMULUS USVs

Incat Crowther Joins HII on U.S. Navy ROMULUS USVs

Incat Crowther will provide naval architecture and design services to America’s largest shipbuilder HII for ROMULUS unmanned surface vessels (USVs) being built under the U.S. Navy's Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) program.

HII has been awarded a U.S. Navy contract to build the vessels, with Incat Crowther supporting the program through its Louisiana-based team as a member of the ROMULUS project team.

ROMULUS is a modular family of AI-enabled unmanned surface vessels based on HII's open-architecture Odyssey Advanced Autonomy Solutions and designed to address current and emerging U.S. Navy requirements.

Incat Crowther's work will continue as the program moves from autonomy trials and evaluation towards vessel construction and deployment.

“We are proud to partner with HII on ROMULUS and help deliver this important capability to the U.S. Navy. The award of this contract is validation of the ROMULUS design and the platform’s capabilities.

“The Navy's decision to select HII for this important program reflects its confidence in the work that Incat Crowther, HII and the rest of the project team have done, demonstrating our ability to deliver a highly capable vessel for the U.S. Navy,” said Grant Pecoraro, Managing Director – North America, Incat Crowther.

HII plans to use a distributed production model involving regional shipbuilders and manufacturing partners to increase available production capacity as Navy demand grows.

“Unmanned vessels ultimately must be built, integrated, tested and sustained as part of a fleet. As the nation’s largest shipbuilder, HII understands that challenge from both sides. By pairing our advanced cutting-edge technologies with Incat Crowther, we are creating a production capable of delivering reliable autonomous platforms at the pace and scale the U.S. Navy requires,” added Duane Fotheringham, president of the Unmanned Systems group in HII’s Mission Technologies division.

Incat Crowther will provide its contribution from its U.S.-based naval architecture and engineering operation in Louisiana.