American shipbuilding giant HII has been awarded a contract by the US Navy to build 10 ROMULUS unmanned surface vessels (USVs) for the Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) program.
The award marks a major advancement in the US Navy’s transition from experimentation to fleet-scale deployment of trusted, operational autonomy 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.”
In 2025, HII committed to securing the partners, production capacity, supplier network and infrastructure needed to move quickly from design and development to construction of ROMULUS USVs. That investment reflected HII’s continued support of the US Navy’s unmanned maritime priorities and advancing the unmanned surface program.
At the core of ROMULUS is HII’s Odyssey autonomous control solutions (ACS), a combat-tested autonomy suite that enables coordinated operations across surface and undersea domains.
A key differentiator of ROMULUS is HII’s Odyssey ACS, a modular, open-architecture autonomy suite developed from decades of experience designing, building, operating and sustaining unmanned maritime systems.
Odyssey is designed to deliver consistent, predictable autonomous behavior, a requirement for the US Navy’s transition from experimentation to operational deployment. It provides decision-making architecture that enables unmanned systems to perceive their surroundings, navigate, manage onboard systems and payloads, coordinate with other manned and unmanned platforms, and execute complex missions with limited human intervention, according to HII.
HII’s Odyssey ACS vessel capabilities were validated through a series of operationally representative test events. The company, with its partners Applied Intuition, Greenroom Robotics and Rodi Marine, completed the evaluation phase of the MUSV program. The US Navy-monitored testing took place in the Gulf of America over a 13-day period and evaluated the system under demanding, real-world operating conditions.
“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.”
HII has delivered more than 750 REMUS unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) to customers in more than 30 countries. Together, ROMULUS, REMUS and Odyssey ACS provide a scalable foundation for autonomous maritime operations supporting the U.S. Navy and allied fleets, it was concluded.
To remind, HII introduced ROMULUS USVs last September.
Credit: HII
Credit: HII