TS Panama City to aid with RoboSubs

Huntington Ingalls Industries is the nation’s largest military shipbuilder, and is now helping the Boeing Co. build Orca, a large unmanned submarine. Just as aerial drones have changed the nature of air warfare, unmanned will allow the Navy to rethink underwater warfare, according to some analysts. This partnership between defense contractors may not be new, but has swelled in 2019. Navy selected two competitors for initial design of Orca: A Boeing-HII team and Lockheed Martin were each awarded about $40M in 2017. In March, the Navy formally ended the competition and awarding more funding to Boeing to build, test and deliver five Orca submersibles. The effort links Boeing and HII’s Technical Solutions (TS) division. Some of the work will be done at HII’s TS facility in Panama City, Fla., where they have developed a smaller submersible called Proteus, which runs in manned and unmanned modes. Among some of HII’s responsibilities will be fabricating and assembling hull structures, and looking at safety and reliability issues, said Dan Tubbs, Boeing’s deputy director of advanced maritime systems. Separate from that contract, the Navy’s requested FY 2020 budget shows a major commitment to unmanned systems, including submersibles. The Navy is asking lawmakers for $359M toward unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), which includes $182M for development, fabrication and testing of Orca. “We made an investment in Proteus … that we run out of Panama City to learn about the space,” said HII President/CEO Mike Petters. “(O)ne thing led to another and Boeing turned to us and said, can you help us manufacture a product?” At first, Orca will be used for delivering payloads, laying mines, mapping the ocean floor and gathering surveillance leaving manned subs for more significant missions. Orca will refine naval tactics, according to Bradley Martin, a senior researcher at RAND Corp. and retired Navy captain. (Source: Virginian-Pilot 05/18/19)