Textron sells autonomous vessel for AUKUS testing

Textron Systems Corp., a subsidiary of Textron Inc., announced it has sold a 21' TSUNAMI uncrewed surface vessel (USV) to the Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific. The vessel will support testing for the Maritime Digital Experimentation Federation, an Australia, United Kingdom, and United States (AUKUS) initiative aimed at evaluating interoperability standards for uncrewed vehicles.

The order includes the USV along with engineering and training support. Textron Systems’ TSUNAMI family of autonomous maritime surface vessels is designed to provide the U.S. Navy and allied forces with versatile, multi-mission uncrewed assets capable of teaming with crewed vessels across the fleet.

The TSUNAMI platform is built using Brunswick Corp. vessels and Textron Systems’ CUSV autonomy control system. The family of vessels includes multiple variants to meet different mission requirements in terms of size, speed, and range.

This sale follows a recent purchase of a 24' TSUNAMI vessel by the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren Division. Textron Systems emphasizes that the TSUNAMI line leverages mature commercial technologies to provide low-cost, rapidly deployable solutions for autonomous maritime operations.

Senior Vice President David Phillips said the TSUNAMI vessels offer scalable, modular, and globally sustainable capabilities, providing maximum mission flexibility in an attritable system.

“The TSUNAMI craft provide the Navy with a rapidly deployable, fully autonomous solution to support their missions,” said David Phillips, senior vice president, air, land and sea systems. “Our expertise in designing and fielding trusted autonomous solutions results in a family of small, uncrewed surface vehicles that are scalable, modular in design, and globally sustainable, allowing for maximum mission flexibility in an attritable system.”