Rolls-Royce Achieves U.S. Navy Certification for its mtu Engines in Autonomous Naval Vessel Operations Rolls-Royce Achieves U.S. Navy Certification for...

Autonomous unmanned surface vessels (USVs) represent a rapidly growing priority for the U.S. government as it seeks to expand fleet capacity and enhance operational flexibility. One of the Navy's first autonomous unmanned surface vessels, the Sea Hunter, was operationally deployed earlier this year along with Seahawk by the U.S.Navy as the first division of unmanned surface vessels. Sea Hunter is powered by twin mtu 12V 2000 engines and has logged tens of thousands of operational hours since its christening in 2016.

USVs enable extended missions, deliver high reliability and improve safety by removing personnel from hazardous environments. To ensure they meet these objectives, USVs are subject to robust certification frameworks, emphasizing rigorous validation of control systems, cybersecurity and safety-critical functions. These U.S. Navy processes are essential to ensuring the safe and reliable deployment of unmanned technologies across maritime, aerial and subsea domains.

Rolls-Royce is also a leader in propulsion systems for unmanned aircraft, powering current unmanned platforms for the U.S. Air Force (RQ-4 Global Hawk) and U.S. Navy (MQ-4C Triton). Most recently, Rolls-Royce supported successful test flights for the Navy's new MQ-25A Stingray™ - an unmanned refueling aircraft powered by the AE 3007N engine from the Rolls-Royce AE engine family. The aircraft autonomously executed a full mission profile, including taxi, take-off, flight maneuvers, and landing.

As a trusted partner to the U.S. Armed Forces for several decades, Rolls-Royce is providing the advanced technology and proven reliability for the next generation of unmanned military vehicles in the air and at sea.

Press photos for download can be found at Media Centre (mtu-solutions.com)