US Navy Advances Undersea Drone Development With Prototype Order Awarded to Anduril

The U.S. Navy, in partnership with the Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, has awarded a contract to defense technology firm Anduril to prototype large autonomous underwater vehicles for long-range deployment in contested environments. 

According to the California-based company, it won the contract after pitting its Dive-LD AUV in a “swim-off” competition at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, Rhode Island, to evaluate the vehicle capabilities of the bidding contractors. The DIU sought AUV prototyping proposals in July 2023 to fill the Navy’s need for large, long-range undersea drones with large payload capabilities, Anduril said Thursday.

The DIU announced on its website that AUV prototype contracts were also awarded to Oceaneering International and Kongsberg Discovery.

Anduril shared that during the contractors’ competition, its engineers demonstrated Dive-LD’s artificial intelligence-powered Lattice software solution, which enables multiple operators to remotely monitor and execute command-and-control tracking and sharing location on a global scale. 

The company also disclosed that it has signed a large AUV co-development partnership agreement with the Royal Australian Navy and the Defence Science Technology Group for the Extra Large Autonomous Undersea Vehicles development program.