57 cruising speed. Its overall optimal speed range runs from 2.5 to 3 knots, with the power for its onboard systems coming from an 18 kW battery. As with the Echo Voyager, its operational range will be approximately 6500 nm. Standard issue sensors that are expected to be integrated include a forward-looking sonar and a doppler velocity logger (DVL), which, along with obstacle avoidance algorithms, will enable safe and autonomous terrain-following capability at seafloor depths. Raytheon’s PROSAS PS60-6000 synthetic aperture sonar is also an anticipated part of the Orca’s sensing portfolio, for applications such as ocean-floor mapping. Past the US’s northern border, Cellula Robotics has begun sea trials of its upcoming Solus-XR XLUUV, aimed at assessing its capabilities in real-world maritime conditions, and evaluating its surface performance and autonomy. We previously discussed the 12 m-long XR in issue 48 (February/March 2023), along with its capability differences versus its smaller counterpart and predecessor, the 8.5 m-long Solus-LR. One of the most significant is the XR’s integration of a significantly larger hydrogen-fuel cell powertrain, giving it a range of up to 5,000 km between refuels – 2.5 times more than the smaller LR. Through its larger H2 tanks and fuel-cell system, the Solus-XR is able to operate entirely without auxiliary support vessels for launch or recovery and is hence deemed a port-to-port mission system. This degree of endurance is expected to enable its users (Defence Research and Development Canada being the primary one) to tackle missions of increasing frequency and length in remote locations, such as beneath the Arctic ice caps. Its zero-carbon hydrogen powertrain and lack of any need for diesel-heavy auxiliary vessels will also help Canadian defence to become more sustainable – something that is increasingly valued as a strategic imperative by militaries the world over. Westward across the Pacific, Hanwha Systems (part of the South Korean conglomerate Hanwha Group) has been awarded a contract to develop what has been called a ‘Mission Reconfigurable eXtra-large Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (MRXUUV)’. The contract awarder is the Agency for Defense Development (ADD), South Korea’s national agency for defence tech R&D, which is tasked with enforcing national defence capabilities and fostering domestic defence industries through technological research (including into uncrewed and other advanced forms of vehicles or weapons). The project, expected to cost 25 billion Korean won (USD 19 million), should result in a long-range autonomous and modular XLUUV that is capable of long-range reconnaissance and mine-installation missions with minimal detection risk. Hanwha Systems’ first prototype of the XLUUV is expected by August 2027, with assembly and testing to be facilitated by Hanwha Ocean (previously Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering until it was taken over and renamed by Hanwha Group in 2023), which UUVs | Insight Capable of 6500 nm of range… the Echo Voyager has accumulated over 10,000 hours at sea and several hundred nautical miles of fully autonomous transit Uncrewed Systems Technology | February/March 2024 An L3Harris Iver4 900 AUV has been equipped with a Recon LS payload from Voyis Systems and a multiple-aperture sonar from Wavefront Systems for MCM, and other missions (Image courtesy of Voyis)
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