US Navy officials announced that the US attack submarine fleet will be able to launch and recover underwater robots from a torpedo tubes, in the near future. The starting point for reaching the capability is the existing torpedo-sized UUV RAZORBACK — designed to extend the awareness of a submarine— based on the REMUS 600 series of underwater robots built by HII. This system has been in testing on the Navy’s attack platforms for more than a year with positive results, as confirmed by Submarine Force Commander, Vice Admiral Bill Houston, showing the utility of the system itself. By the way, at this stage, the current RAZORBACK requires a dry deck shelter and divers to recover the 600-pound UUV, being the critical aspect of using a medium UUV – easy to launch, not to recover. Despite these issues, the Director of Submarine Warfare for the Office of Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV N97), Rear Adm. Doug Perry, reported that the USN has tested a system earlier this year to recover the Medium UUV via torpedo tube and is close to deploying the system onboard in the near future. Rear Adm. Casey Moton, the program executive officer for unmanned and small combatants, also added during an interview with US Defense media, that the Navy is working on merging the needs of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) community and the attack boat fleet under a contract with Leidos and L3 Harris ($358 million), with a single MUUV project, based around the REMUS 600 design but with different payloads in accordance with the mission profiles. Rear Adm. Moton also added that the enhanced features of the new UUV will allow the EOD force to conduct longer duration missions, cover more ocean area and do so faster, which enables the vehicles to get into deeper waters and improves the overall effectiveness of MCM operations in austere environments. For the attack version, the new RAZORBACK vehicle will be fully integrated and to accomplish this feat, torpedo tube launch and recovery capability will be integrated into the Razorback UUV, transforming every SSN in a UUV mothership. Another important aspect to take care of in the project development is the battery life of the system, despite the improvements, the MUUVs are indeed still limited in how long they can operate without recharging and the ability to take the UUV aboard a submarine for charging and maintenance. The USN has conducted tests with nine RAZORBACKs assigned to the Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Squadron-1 (UUVRON-1) in the last year; the Squadron is now part of the Submarine Force of US Pacific Fleet.

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