The United States' largest military shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. (HII), Newport News, Va., reports that construction of the prototype for its ROMULUS uncrewed surface vessel (USV) family is 30% complete and remains on schedule for sea trials in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The company detailed the progress during a visit by executives to Breaux Brothers Enterprises, Loreauville, La., where the prototype is being built. HII leaders toured the shipyard with build partners Breaux Brothers and Incat Crowther and reviewed work on hull construction, integration of HII’s Odyssey Autonomous Control System (ACS), and outfitting.
“ROMULUS is progressing at a pace that reflects the urgency of the mission and the strength of our partnerships,” said Andy Green, president of HII’s Mission Technologies division. “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 unmanned surface capability.”
ROMULUS USVs are being designed to meet current and emerging requirements for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, joint forces, and allies. The vessels are intended to provide high-endurance, sustained open-ocean autonomy with a focus on lethality, cost efficiency, and scalability. Planned mission sets include intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance; counter-unmanned air systems; mine countermeasures; strike; and launch and recovery of unmanned underwater and aerial vehicles.
Paired with HII’s REMUS UUVs, ROMULUS is meant to extend undersea reach and support scalable dual-domain operations, according to the company. The prototype under construction is the first in HII’s modular, AI-enabled ROMULUS line, engineered for rapid production, high endurance, speeds above 25 knots, and a range of 2,500 nautical miles.
The USVs are built around HII’s Odyssey ACS, an autonomy suite used across more than 35 USV platforms and over 750 REMUS UUVs in 30 countries. Odyssey supports sustained open-ocean autonomy, multi-agent swarming, modular payload integration, and manned-unmanned teaming. ROMULUS platforms will also integrate capabilities from Shield AI, Applied Intuition, and C3 AI.
Odyssey’s open-access, government-aligned architecture allows rapid integration of new sensors, payloads, and third-party autonomy technologies, HII stated. It also supports testing and refinement by industry, government, and academic partners.
In November, HII and Shield AI reported the first major test of their integrated autonomy solution aboard the ROMULUS 20 USV, marking a step toward operational deployment of the AI-enabled fleet.
ROMULUS is being developed with support from HII’s Dark Sea Labs Advanced Technology Group.
