Oceaneering Freedom AUV Gets a Look for Defense Applications

Oceaneering International said its Aerospace and Defense Technologies (ADTech) business segment won a contract by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), a U.S. Department of Defense organization, for the development and testing of the Freedom Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) as a potential Large Displacement Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (LDUUV) prototype for the U.S. Navy’s Program Office for Advanced Undersea Systems.

The contract includes a Manufacturing Readiness Review to assess current production capacity and tradeoffs that could be performed to speed LDUUV capabilities to the fleet.

The Freedom AUV design incorporates a multi-thruster design which provides six degrees of freedom in vehicle maneuverability. With eight independent thrusters, Freedom supports mission success with its ability to conduct low altitude, precision operations in complex, critical subsea infrastructure environments.