Hydroid UUV in full production

Hydroid Inc. of Pocasset, Mass., has begun full-rate production the Navy Littoral Battlespace Sensing (LBS) Unmanned Underwater Vehicle. The Navy conducted more than a year of test and evaluation before ordering the LBS UUV. The end user of the UUVs will be the Naval Oceanographic Office at NASA's Stennis Space Center, Miss., which acquires and analyzes open oceans, coastal waters, and harbors data. The U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) in San Diego ordered the immediate production of three LBS UUVs, based on the Hydroid REMUS 600 UUV, and one Shipset consisting of a launch and recovery system (LARS), a LARS flat rack, a mission van, a maintenance van, and vehicle support equipment. The REMUS (Remote Environmental Measuring Units) UUV projects funders include the U.S. Office of Naval Research in Arlington, Va.; the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, and the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence in London. Hydroid is a subsidiary of Kongsberg Maritime AS in Kongsberg, Norway. (Source: Military and Aerospace Electronics, 03/08/13)