L3Harris Technologies has received a contract from the Defense Innovation Unit to deliver its Torpedo Tube Launch and Recovery system, which deploys and retrieves autonomous underwater vehicles through submarine torpedo tubes, according to the company.
The system, which launches and recovers L3Harris’s Iver4 900 autonomous underwater vehicles, has been validated by US and allied navies to conduct intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, mine detection and seabed warfare missions without surfacing or exposing personnel to risk. The contract was awarded under an Other Transaction Authority mechanism, reflecting the urgency with which the capability is being pursued.
Nino DiCosmo, President of Maritime, Space and Mission Systems at L3Harris, said the system was “not a future capability, it’s answering combatant commander needs today” and described it as the first to successfully launch and recover autonomous underwater vehicles from a submarine, providing commanders with “flexibility for persistent undersea operations and maintaining essential stealth.”
The modular system is designed to multiply force capacity from existing submarine hulls without requiring costly new construction, and delivers what the company describes as the first US Navy submarine and aviation-approved autonomous underwater vehicle lithium-ion battery technology, enabling longer-duration missions with hot-swap capability for continuous operations.
