Raytheon is challenging the economics of long-range underwater operations with a new unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) built to go farther without driving up costs.
The RTX business has teamed with Composite Energy Technologies (CET) to develop the “HADALUS” UUV capable of traveling more than 2,000 nautical miles (2,302 miles/3,704 kilometers) without surfacing.
The companies said the new platform costs just one-fifth as much as similar vehicles, potentially giving naval crews a more scalable and cost-effective option for long-endurance undersea missions.
Measuring 34 feet (10 meters) long with a 6-foot (2-meter) cross section, HADALUS uses a carbon fiber exoskeleton designed to resist flooding while providing greater strength and payload capacity.
The architecture is also intended to reduce manufacturing costs.
HADALUS progressed from an initial design sketch to a working prototype for a US Navy demonstration in just 18 months.
“By combining CET’s advanced composite vehicle architecture with Raytheon’s mission systems, sensors, and integration expertise, we have created a highly capable platform that can be produced at a fraction of the cost of conventional alternatives,” said CET CEO Chase Hogoboom.
HADALUS in Action
The UUV was recently demonstrated with the US Navy, showcasing another unusual capability: it can be launched while its parent vessel remains submerged.
Raytheon claims the demonstration was a “technological first,” allowing an unmanned platform to be deployed without the host vessel needing to surface.
The capability could enable undersea platforms to launch additional unmanned systems without exposing their position, while potentially allowing a single UUV to detect, reacquire, and engage targets during the same mission.
“This demonstration is an important step in a broader roadmap to deliver autonomous, end‑to‑end undersea capabilities that are far less detectable than surface platforms,” said Jen Gauthier, vice president of Naval Systems & Sustainment at Raytheon.
“By tightly coupling design, integration, and at‑sea experimentation, we’ve proven we can bring new autonomous solutions to the fleet quickly and cost‑effectively.”
