Kongsberg Aiming For Extended AUV Deal With US Navy

Kongsberg Discovery is hoping its recent delivery of a Hugin Superior AUV to the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) will lead to a wider contract with the U.S. Navy.

As per a recent press statement the Norwegian firm has just handed over its first autonomous uncrewed vessel (AUV) to the DIU just 12 months on from winning a two-year framework deal.

Kongsberg said acceptance testing was completed at the beginning of the year in Norway on the Hugin Superior, a platform which was launched in 2019. The 22ft deep-water AUV is equipped with acoustic sensors and is designed for a range of missions including mine countermeasures (MCM), mapping, critical undersea infrastructure (CUI) inspection and seabed warfare.

It can be deployed for more than 70 hours at a time, and boasts a claimed navigational accuracy deviation of less than 0.04% of distance travelled.

In April last year the firm carried out a week-long demonstration programme for a U.S. Navy delegation in Horten, Norway. Richard Patterson, Kongsberg Discovery’s Uncrewed Platforms Division Sales Vice President, commented:  “Kongsberg is excited to be expanding our relationship with the U.S. Navy.”

He added: “We… look forward to valuable operator feedback and continued partnership to further evolve our product line.” 

Kongsberg Discovery’s Director of Communications and Public affairs Charlotte Gjone added that the firm was “proud to be selected to provide undersea technology for DIU” and added that it was hoped the collaboration could lead to a wider deal seeing the U.S. Navy acquiring both the Hugin Superior and its sister AUV the Endurance in greater numbers.

Kongsberg says it has already sold and delivered more than 100 Hugin AUV systems globally to a mix of commercial and government customers. A total of 12 different navies are already using Hugin-family AUVs.

• You can read more details on the Kongsberg website