Bluefin
Robotics, a leading provider of Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs),
announced that they will produce a variation of the Knifefish UUV for
the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). Knifefish is a specialized Bluefin-21
UUV that is being developed for the Surface Mine Countermeasure Unmanned
Underwater Vehicle (SMCM UUV) program for which Bluefin is under subcontract
to General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems. Bluefin completed
the Knifefish Preliminary Design Review earlier this year and will leverage
that design to deliver a system to NRL. The vehicle will be used to
advance NRL’s low-frequency broadband (LFBB) payload technology
and support their broader mission to advance basic and applied research
in undersea warfare. |
“We
are pleased that we are able to easily adapt the Knifefish design for
NRL’s specific needs,” said David P. Kelly, President and
CEO of Bluefin Robotics. “This is just another example of how
the UUV technology is maturing into a reliable, robust platform option
for advancing new science and capability.”
Bluefin’s technology has proven suitable for specialized acoustic
payloads like NRL’s LFBB sonar. For the past ten years, the two
groups have been working closely together on developing and fielding
the Reliant vehicle, a Bluefin-21 used as a science and technology system
for the original LFBB development.
“Science and defense programs are now mutually benefitting from
the investments made in the UUV technology. Bluefin has been a key contributor
to that effort with the Reliant vehicle, their commercial systems, Knifefish,
and now with our new UUV,” said Dr. Brian Houston, acting head
of NRL’s Physical Acoustics Branch. “The science made possible
with this vehicle will advance the nation’s mine-hunting capabilities
that can be incorporated into future generations of UUVs.”
In addition to many of the Knifefish features, NRL’s new vehicle
will be equipped with two-way iridium communications, specialized sensors,
and empty sections that will accommodate their acoustic payload, including
a towed receiver array, and a reacquisition capability. Bluefin will
also deliver topside support equipment and graphical-user interface
software tools.
This program is being funded as a contract modification to contract
#N00173-10-C-6008. |
