HII secures U.S. Navy contract for 10 ROMULUS USVs
Huntington Ingalls Industries has won a U.S. Navy contract to build 10 ROMULUS unmanned surface vessels for the Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel program.
HII has been awarded a U.S. Navy contract to build 10 ROMULUS unmanned surface vessels under the Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel programme. The contract, awarded on September 29, 2026, is part of a larger 30-vessel MUSV procurement split among three suppliers, with each receiving an agreement for 10 vessels. This award follows HII's completion of the programme's evaluation phase and signals a transition from development and testing to production-scale fleet building.
Technology and system validation
The ROMULUS vessels will be equipped with HII's Odyssey Autonomous Control Solutions. This combat-tested, modular autonomy suite provides capabilities in perception, navigation, system management, payload control, and coordination across surface and undersea domains. Its performance was validated during a 13-day, Navy-monitored evaluation in the Gulf of America under operationally representative conditions.
The most rigorous test was a long-endurance mission simulation. The Odyssey ACS successfully completed a simulated 420-nautical-mile mission over 28 hours, meeting all established success criteria. This demonstration proved the system's endurance and autonomous performance for sustained maritime operations. HII developed ROMULUS in partnership with Beier Integrated Systems and Incat Crowther, with Phase I requirements calling for a 2,500-nautical-mile range at 25 knots in sea state 4 while carrying 25 metric tonnes of payload.
Production readiness and industrial base
HII has prepared for scalable production. In 2025, the company committed to securing the necessary partners, production capacity, supplier network, and infrastructure for ROMULUS construction. It recently announced a new 10,000-square-foot expansion to its existing 40,000-square-foot unmanned manufacturing production campus. The expanded facility will support building, developing, and integrating advanced unmanned systems, including REMUS unmanned underwater vehicles and the new ROMULUS USVs.
The company uses a distributed production model involving Gulf Coast build partners. This allows major components to be manufactured before final vessel integration. Prior to the contract award, HII already had five ROMULUS 151 vessels under construction in Louisiana. Four were at Breaux Brothers Enterprises and one was at Halimar Shipyard. Other key industrial partners include Bayou Metal Supply & Manufacturing.
Company profile and strategic significance
Virginia-headquartered HII is America's largest military shipbuilder. It operates Newport News Shipbuilding, Ingalls Shipbuilding, and the Mission Technologies division. The company has a more than 140-year history in national security and employs about 45,000 people. In 2025, HII recorded $12.5 billion in revenue and held a $53.1 billion backlog.
President and CEO Chris Kastner highlighted the strategic intent behind the company's moves. "HII has made deliberate, early investments in the development of autonomous systems, advancing capabilities essential to the Navy’s hedge strategy," he said. Andy Green, president of HII’s Mission Technologies division, emphasized the operational reality. "Unmanned vessels ultimately must be built, integrated, tested and sustained as part of a fleet," Green stated.
The average procurement cost for each ROMULUS vessel is about $40 million. First deliveries are scheduled before the end of fiscal 2027.
