Cellula Robotics, Trusted Autonomous Systems Developing Fuel-cell Powered XLUUV for Australian Navy

Cellula Robotics said Thursday it was six months into a contract with Trusted Autonomous Systems (TAS), to develop the next generation of fuel cell powered, Extra-Large Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (XLUUV). 

"Funded by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and in collaboration with sovereign sub-contractors, project SeaWolf is set to debut the first 12m XLUUV hull in the fourth quarter of 2022," Cellula Robotics said.

Cellula said that some notable features of the SeaWolf project include a mission range of over 5,000 kms powered by a fuel cell power system and two modular 2,500 liter flooded payload bays.

With a 12-meter by 1.7-meter hull, SeaWolf can be shipped in a single 40' ISO container. Ron Allum has been sub-contracted by Cellula to implement a robust thruster and battery system

"Cellula is excited to take the DRDC-funded Solus-LR project to the next level of capability with TAS and RAN," said Adrian Woodroffe, Business Development Manager at Cellula.  "Our fuel cell power system is the key enabler that gives SeaWolf a game-changing submerged range and payload capacity."

CEO of TAS, Professor Jason Scholz said: "TAS are excited to see the progress on the SeaWolf project across engineering, manufacturing, regulatory, control, propulsion, and other supporting technologies and concepts. The novel technologies and demonstrated capabilities at Cellula Robotics made them a partner of choice, and plans underway to establish an Australian Cellula entity will bring them closer to the sovereign enterprises in Australia already working on delivering our concept of an underwater loyal-wingman to the Royal Australian Navy".  

Cellula is based in Burnaby, British Columbia, but the company also said it was in its final stages of establishing an Australian office in Brisbane to further the next stages of this project, including Australian-based design and manufacturing. 

Demonstration missions with Solus-LR and the prototype SeaWolf XLUUV will take place in the first quarter of 2023 in Australia.