HII has confirmed that construction of the prototype for its new ROMULUS unmanned surface vessel (USV) family has reached 30% completion, with the project remaining on schedule for sea trials in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The announcement came during a recent executive visit to Breaux Brothers Enterprises in Loreauville, Louisiana, where HII leaders inspected the shipyard alongside build partners Breaux Brothers and Incat Crowther.
Officials reviewed ongoing work on the vessel’s hull, the integration of HII’s Odyssey Autonomous Control System (ACS), and other outfitting activities.
HII’s Mission Technologies division president Andy Green said: “ROMULUS is progressing at a pace that reflects the urgency of the mission and the strength of our partnerships. Breaux Brothers and our industry team are delivering a platform that brings scale, autonomy and real operational advantage to the fleet. At 30% complete, the ROMULUS prototype is well on its way to becoming the benchmark for uncrewed surface capability.”
The ROMULUS USVs are being produced to address operational requirements from the US Navy, US Marine Corps, joint forces, and allied entities.
The vessels are intended to carry out missions such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance tasks, counter-uncrewed air systems operations, mine countermeasures, strike missions, as well as launch and recovery roles for uncrewed underwater and aerial vehicles.
ROMULUS prototypes are supported by HII’s Dark Sea Labs Advanced Technology Group and represent the first in a modular line of USVs engineered for rapid and repeatable production.
Each platform is built around the Odyssey ACS, which is currently deployed on more than 35 USV platforms and more than 750 REMUS uncrewed underwater vehicles across 30 countries.
Odyssey enables open-ocean autonomy, multi-agent swarming, modular payload integration, and cooperation between crewed and uncrewed assets.
Additional features will be contributed by Shield AI, Applied Intuition, and C3 AI to enhance autonomous performance and lifecycle sustainment.
In November 2025, HII and Shield AI concluded what they described as “the first major test of their integrated autonomy solution aboard HII’s ROMULUS 20 USV,” characterising it as a significant development towards fielding an AI-enabled ROMULUS fleet.
ROMULUS vessels are designed for mission flexibility with maximum speeds exceeding 25 knots and a range of 2,500 nautical miles to support operations across various global theatres.
When paired with HII’s REMUS UUV, ROMULUS platforms increase undersea reach and enable dual-domain maritime force packages structured for distributed operations.
