Anduril Plans to Build Unmanned Warships in Seattle

 

In the latest sign of development from the budding U.S.-Korea shipbuilding partnership, American tech firm Anduril reports that it will work with HD Hyundai to develop unmanned vessels for the Modular Attack Surface Craft (MASC) competition, the latest U.S. Navy program for an oceangoing unmanned warship. This particular platform will be built in Seattle for low-rate production, Anduril says. 

Anduril - the maker of Australia's Ghost Shark unmanned sub - says that the new "family" of USV designs will be autonomous, modular, mass production-ready, iteratively upgradeable, and capable of flexible mission payloads. Mission possibilities range from ISR to electronic warfare to strike, based on loadout. Its design philosophy is to use software for system integration, maximizing interchangeability of hardware components and minimizing vendor lock-in for parts in the sustainment phase. Similarly, Anduril and HD Hyundai picked all-steel construction for the hull, the least technically complicated, most repairable and most accessible option for smaller shipyards. 

Anduril and HD Hyundai are building the first prototype in Korea using HD Hyundai's advanced capabilities. This stage will prove out the design and technology in an advanced facility and prepare the system for production in America. For the next stage, Anduril is building up capacity at the small Foss Shipyard site in Seattle. The yard is located next to traditional firms like Western Towboat and Coastal Transportation on the Lake Washington Ship Canal, and Foss shut it down in 2021. It will be revived and used as the home base for Anduril's low-rate production for integration and testing. 

"The Pacific Northwest, home to the wartime legacy of Kaiser Shipyards and the original Freedom’s Forge, offers the infrastructure, supply chain depth, and skilled labor to expand U.S. shipbuilding capacity. The region provides the ideal conditions to re-energize American shipbuilding and grow the maritime workforce," said Anduril in a statement. 

In addition to its human workforce, Anduril is maximizing automation during production, in partnership with robotics firm Hadrian. The work will be done with precision automation and "rapid fabrication capabilities" to build structural and mechanical components, Anduril said.