US Navy Subs Are Getting a Drone That Can Launch Through a Torpedo Tube

Photo caption: The USS Delaware (SSN 791) completed the first end-to-end submarine torpedo tube launch and recovery of a REMUS medium unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV).

HII is honored to be a part of this successful and groundbreaking mission: the first end-to-end submarine torpedo tube launch and recovery of a REMUS medium unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) using the Yellow Moray system.

This incredible feat is a game-changer, significantly enhancing the capabilities of the US Navy’s submarines and their contribution to our nation's unified combatant commands worldwide.

US Navy Subs Are Getting a Drone That Can Launch Through a Torpedo Tube

The Maritime Executive | Dec. 12, 2023

For the first time, a U.S. Navy submarine has tested an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) that can leave and re-enter the sub through a torpedo tube. The capability to deploy a drone through an existing hatch creates new opportunities for surveillance, scouting and other missions.

The Navy's submarine community has been testing a variant of the REMUS 600 military/civilian UUV for some time using a drydeck shelter and divers for launch and recovery. However, the number of subs in the Navy inventory that can carry a drydeck shelter is finite, and the launch and recovery procedure is operationally cumbersome, so the service has an interest in developing a variant that can go in and out of a torpedo tube. This would make the device usable across the fleet, on any sub in service, without the extra hassle of stopping and deploying divers each time it is used. The only challenge is threading a torpedo-size drone back through a torpedo-sized hole from the outside.

Read more about this exciting opportunity in The Maritime Executive.

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