Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), Newport News, Va., and Thales, Meudon, France, have announced the successful integration and field exercise of the Thales SAMDIS1 600 sonar with HII’s next-generation REMUS 620 medium unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV).
The integration demonstrates the compatibility of Thales’ multi-aspect synthetic aperture SAMDIS 600 sonar with HII’s highly modular, long-endurance REMUS 620 UUV. Together, the systems deliver autonomous mine detection, classification, and imaging, offering naval forces and partners around the world enhanced capability for undersea security, mine countermeasures, and subsea infrastructure monitoring.
The exercise, completed at the end of August at the HII Pocasset facility in Massachusetts, marks a milestone in advancing autonomous undersea mine countermeasure capabilities, HII said.
“Teaming the Thales’ advanced SAMDIS 600 sensor in the REMUS 620 underscores the power of collaboration in driving innovation for our customers,” Duane Fotheringham, president, Mission Technologies’ unmanned systems business group, said in a statement announcing the successful exercise. “This milestone demonstrates not only the adaptability of the REMUS 620 but also the strength of industry partnerships in delivering next-generation, interoperable solutions that enhance undersea dominance for NATO and allied forces.”
“SAMDIS empowers missions with enhanced efficiency and effectiveness, serving as a crucial enabler for precise acoustic identification through its multi-aspect and high-resolution SAS capabilities,” said Paul Armstrong, managing director, underwater systems, Thales, in the United Kingdom. “This achievement is the result of a strong working relationship with HII, demonstrating the strength of industry collaboration in delivering advanced solutions for the benefit of our users' missions."
HII and Thales’ collaboration builds on decades of leadership in unmanned and underwater systems. Thales is the world’s leading exporter of naval sonar systems, while HII’s REMUS UUV family has become the benchmark for modular, reliable, and mission-ready autonomous undersea vehicles, the statement said.
The REMUS UUV line delivers critical advantages across modern naval operations and the autonomous systems have been proven to operate independently or in conjunction with crewed platforms. This includes the recent successful demonstration of the launch and recover of REMUS autonomous undersea vehicles from the torpedo tubes of Virginia-class nuclear submarines. This capability will significantly extend mission range, reduce detection risk, and limit personnel exposure.
The REMUS open-architecture design allows rapid payload integration, enabling mission-specific configurations and future tech insertions, key factors in maintaining operational relevance and cost efficiency over time.
To date, HII has sold more than 700 REMUS vehicles to over 30 countries, including 14 NATO members, the company said. Notably, over 90% of REMUS units delivered in the past 23 years remain in service.
