The UK Royal Navy transports a REMUS 600 UUV to the operations area. Credit: U.S. Navy photo by John F. Williams/US Office of Naval Research/Flickr (Creative Commons).

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) has handed over three REMUS 100 uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs) to the UK Royal Navy (RN).

The three new UUVs will be used to support the RN’s mine countermeasure (MCM) operations.

In the past 20 years, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has procured a mix of REMUS 600 UUVs and REMUS 100 UUVs for the RN fleet.

HII said that the first two REMUS 100 acquired in 2002 by the UK MoD are still in service with the Navy.

HII Mission Technologies division Uncrewed Systems business group president Duane Fotheringham said: “Our newest REMUS 100s will bolster their existing fleet with increased capability for the UK’s subsea autonomous operations.”

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Procurement of REMUS 100 UUVs will provide improved endurance capabilities to the RN fleet.

The UUV features new generation sensors and payloads that will further provide enhanced mission efficiency and data quality.

UK RN Command Headquarters mine warfare lead commander Rory Armstrong said: “On behalf of the frontline users, I’m delighted to accept into service this refresh of REMUS 100.

“Our use of REMUS family of vehicles over last two decades has paved way for a future mine countermeasures capability with autonomy at its core.

“These vehicles represent an exciting evolution of our existing small autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) fleet and will make a valued contribution to RN as a force for good both in home waters and on an expeditionary basis.”

Last month, the UK revealed its plans to donate a total of six underwater drones to support Ukraine in fight against Russian invasion. 

At the same time, the RN also commenced training Ukrainian Navy personnel on the use of the uncrewed vehicles for mine hunting operations.