HII Adds Another Workboat Shipyard to its Unmanned-Vessel Program
In the latest sign of the growing opportunities for smaller shipyards in the unmanned-systems sector, Huntington Ingalls Industries has contracted with a second Louisiana-based workboat yard to build its Romulus USV platform.
Romulus is a fast, midsize USV designed to meet the Navy's MUSV program requirements: a containerized-payload carrier with a capacity of two FEU and a range of 2,500 nautical miles. It was one of seven competing designs approved to enter the "prototype evaluation phase" of the MUSV competition in May. Other competitors include Leidos, Sea Machines/St. Johns Shipbuildng, Saronic, Galliano Marine Services (Chouest), PacMar Technologies and Birdon. Those who past the Navy's underway test will receive $15 million and will be approved for follow-on production.
To build Romulus at scale, HII set up a construction partnership with Breaux Brothers Enterprises, an aluminum-construction crewboat yard outside of New Iberia. Breaux Brothers is known for high-speed fast supply vessels, crewboats, passenger vessels, pilot boats and other working vessels; HII designed Romulus in partnership with the small yard in order to take advantage of commercial-standard hull construction methods, making the USV easily reproducible in existing small shipyard settings. HII announced in March that it would support construction of a dedicated Romulus "assembly line" facility at Breaux Brothers, centered on automated processes for high efficiency.
"Romulus is engineered from the outset for scale," HII executive vice president Andy Green said earlier this year. "By aligning design, autonomy, and manufacturing, we are creating a production model that delivers predictable outcomes and positions us to meet growing demand for autonomous maritime capability."
that matters most
Get the latest maritime news delivered to your inbox daily.
In addition to Breaux Brothers, HII has now agreed to work with Halimar Shipyard to expand production of the Romulus 151. Halimar is emblematic of the promise of the Navy's new interest in USVs: it is a commercially-focused small yard in Morgan City, the historical center of the offshore oil and gas industry. Typically engaged in construction and repair for the marine towing, dredging and offshore-vessel industries, it does not have a high profile in the defense world but is known for delivering quality workboats. This puts it in good company with other new USV competitors, like Breaux Brothers, Chouest, St. Johns Shipbuilding (with Leidos) and Conrad Shipyard (with Blue Water Autonomy).
“We are proud to partner with HII on the Romulus program and contribute to the future of autonomous maritime operations,” said William Hidalgo Jr, executive vice president and chief operating officer, Halimar Shipyard. “Our team has decades of experience building high-quality vessels, and we look forward to applying that expertise to help deliver reliable, scalable production capacity that supports evolving mission needs.”