UK-based defense company BAE Systems revealed it is entering the medium unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) market with a new model of the Riptide UUV.
Named UUV-12, the newest member of the Riptide family is a 12” diameter vehicle and marks the first new vehicle since last year’s acquisition of Riptide Autonomous Solutions. It is joining three small UUV variants that were already developed.
“The Riptide UUV-12 system significantly extends the Riptide family of UUVs by taking us into the medium UUV market,” said Jeff Smith, chief scientist at BAE Systems’ FAST Labs research and development organization. “With this medium-size platform, we are strategically aligning our modular, open architecture-based UUV platform to meet rapidly expanding applications and requirements.”
The company says the Riptide UUV-12 can be adapted for different mission, including those that require larger and more power-hungry payloads. Tasks can include anything from combinations of Radio Frequency (RF) signal collection, RF electronic warfare, active acoustics, acoustic Identification Friend or Foe, acoustic and RF communications, mission autonomy, and navigation.
BAE Systems acquired Riptide Autonomous Solutions, the original manufacturer of the UUV family, in June 2019 and integrated it into its FAST Labs organization, which focuses on innovating new capabilities.
