SAN FRANCISCO, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Boeing Company said Thursday it is teaming with a U.S. shipbuilder on the design and production of unmanned undersea vehicles, or UUVs, in support of the U.S. Navy's Extra Large UUV program.
The world's largest aerospace company said it is combining its UUV maritime engineering team with Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) and "Navy technical services company to get operational vehicles to the Navy years ahead of the standard acquisition process."
"This partnership provides the Navy a cost-effective, low-risk path to meet the emergent needs that prompted the Navy's Advanced Undersea Prototyping program," said Darryl Davis, president of Boeing Phantom Works, in a news release.
The partnership will leverage design and production facilities in Huntington Beach, California, Newport News, Virginia, and Panama City, Florida, and will offer access to all of the expertise and capability of Boeing and HII.
Boeing, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, is testing its newest and largest UUV, Echo Voyager, off the Southern California coast. Designed for multiple missions and capable of including a modular payload bay of up to 34 feet, or about 10.4 meters, Echo Voyager is fully autonomous, requiring no support vessel for launch or recovery, enabling operation at sea for months before returning to port.
