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Unmanned Systems

HII, Metalcraft Complete Prototype Small USV Project For DIU, Marines Corps

By Cal Biesecker

Tuesday, August 11th, 2026

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HII, Metalcraft Complete Prototype Small USV Project For DIU, Marines Corps

The HII and MetalCraft Marine Watcher small USV. Photo: HII

HII [HII] and its partner MetalCraft Marine have successfully completed development and sea testing of a prototype small autonomous unmanned surface vessel (USV) for the Marine Corps under a Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) project. HII said two Watcher ROMULUS-25 USVs were tested last December that were integrated with the company’s Odyssey autonomous control system. The at-sea testing included autonomous behaviors in different operational scenarios, contractor demonstrations, government-led autonomy assessments, seakeeping, performance degraded environment testing. Following testing under the Production-Ready, Inexpensive,…

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