Royal Navy grows Remus 100 fleet with latest arrivals
Remus UUV being launched in a UK minehunting trial. (Photo: UK MoD/Crown Copyright)
Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) has delivered three more Remus 100 uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs) to the UK RN for subsea autonomous operations.
‘The new systems bring enhanced endurance and the latest generation of sensors and payloads, allowing for increased data quality and mission efficiency,’ HII claimed in a 21 September statement.
The UK MoD acquired its first pair of Remus 100s in 2002. It operates a mixed fleet of Remus 100 and Remus 600 UUVs for mine countermeasure (MCM) operations.
Cdr Rory Armstrong, mine warfare lead at RN Command Headquarters, said the arrival of the additional UUVs represents ‘an exciting evolution of our existing small autonomous underwater vehicle fleet and will make a valued contribution to the Royal Navy as a force for good both in home waters and on an expeditionary basis’.
In November 2021, the RN took delivery of a different remotely operated USV — called Apollo — from Thales UK, OCCAR and MoD Defence Equipment & Support. The USV is designed for MCM missions in place of existing crewed Hunt- and Sandown-class mine countermeasure vessels.
Related Equipment in Defence Insight
More from Naval Warfare
-
RTX Raytheon enhances SM-3 and SM-6 production capacity
The expansion of the Redstone facility in Alabama will enable Raytheon to increase production of Standard Missiles in the location by 50% and support Washington in refilling stockpiles after recent operations have depleted the Pentagon’s reserves.
-
What the rise of interoperability between Western allies means for defence procurement
Major naval initiatives including the European Patrol Corvette programmes and Norway’s UK partnership-focused purchase of Type 26 frigates point to the growing interest in the advantages of commonality across allied navies.
-
How Operation Epic Fury could reduce US readiness to face China
The offensive against Iran could impact training and maintenance cycles and accelerate the degradation of the US arsenal on top of depleting Washington’s stockpiles.