BAE Systems Launches Unmanned Riptide UUV-12

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BAE Systems has unveiled the newest addition to its unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) portfolio, the Riptide™ UUV-12. The 12” diameter vehicle is the company’s entry into the medium UUV market – joining three small UUV variants – and marks the first new vehicle since last year’s acquisition of Riptide Autonomous Solutions.

“The Riptide UUV-12 system significantly extends the Riptide family of UUVs by taking us into the medium UUV market,” said Jeff Smith, chief scientist at BAE Systems’ FAST Labs™ research and development organization. “With this medium-size platform, we are strategically aligning our modular, open architecture-based UUV platform to meet rapidly expanding applications and requirements.”

Riptide UUV-12 can be easily adapted to meet a variety of mission needs, including those that require larger and more power-hungry payloads. When integrated with the company’s mission system payloads, it can deliver critical capabilities including combinations of Radio Frequency (RF) signal collection, RF electronic warfare, active acoustics, acoustic Identification Friend or Foe, acoustic and RF communications, mission autonomy, and navigation.

Key Riptide UUV-12 features include:

• Versatility – agnostic, modular system design enables easy modification and customization for various development needs;
• Endurance – high-efficiency electronics architecture coupled with a highly efficient, low-noise propulsion system;
• Open system – native integration with industry-leading sensors and technology.

The Riptide family of UUVs is a combination of sophisticated yet simple, efficient, and highly flexible platforms that perform at great depth, at long range, with high endurance, and at significant speed to meet various commercial and military requirements.