Huntington Ingalls Industries Closes the Acquisition of Hydroid
Huntington Ingalls Industries has closed on the previously announced acquisition of Hydroid, a provider of advanced marine robotics to the defence and maritime markets. In conjunction with the transaction, HII and Kongsberg Maritime have established a strategic alliance to jointly market naval and maritime products and services to the US government market and potentially to global markets. “The combination of HII and Hydroid brings together the full range of UUVs,” said Andy Green, HII executive vice president and president of Technical Solutions.
Autonomous and Unmanned Maritime Systems
The acquisition of Hydroid, based in Pocasset, Massachusetts (US), expands HII’s capabilities in the autonomous and unmanned maritime systems market. Hydroid will become part of HII’s Technical Solutions Unmanned Systems business unit that now includes unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) such as the Orca extra-large UUV that is produced in partnership with Boeing, and Proteus, a dual-mode UUV operated out of Panama City, Florida (US). With the addition of Hydroid, HII now has capabilities in the medium and small UUV space from the REMUS and Seaglider autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) or marine robots.
Undersea Mine Countermeasures
Hydroid designs and manufactures solutions for use in a number of applications including defence, marine research and commercial. The company has over 15 years of experience providing the US Navy and its allies with combat-proven UUVs. For intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance applications, Hydroid’s UUVs deliver sensors to sensitive areas, collecting data in all operational environments. Their vehicles have also been involved in undersea mine countermeasures. Hydroid’s UUVs located Air France Flight 447 wreckage and generated 3D mapping of the Titanic.
