L3Harris Technologies has received an order to provide upgrades to three of the company’s Iver3 AUVs (autonomous underwater vehicles), in support of the United Kingdom Royal Navy’s Project Wilton.
Project Wilton aims to develop unmanned capabilities for route surveying and mine counter measures (MCM), using AUVs, ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) and ASVs (autonomous surface vessels) controlled via a portable operations centre.
The Iver3 AUV is a one-man-portable platform featuring intuitive point-and-click mission planning and the ability to field a variety of state-of-the-art sensors and sonar packages. L3Harris will upgrade the underwater vehicles with the capability to integrate high accuracy navigation sensors and advanced communications for surface tracking, as well as collaborative autonomy architecture and automatic target recognition.
Cmdr. Steven White, the commander of the Royal Navy’s First Mine Counter Measures Squadron (MCM1), which conducts route survey operations in U.K. waters and in many areas throughout the world to ensure freedom of navigation for commercial and military vessels, commented; “We look forward to trialling and incorporating the upgraded Iver3 as part of the Wilton equipment set.”
Daryl Slocum, vice president/general manager of Unmanned Maritime Systems at L3Harris, stated; “We are pleased to support the Royal Navy in their mine countermeasure missions and peacetime route surveys. We are proud to be part of the autonomy revolution and will continue to evolve the Iver platform to keep it at the cutting edge.”
