Boeing wins $11 million UUV refurbishment and testing contract
Industry heavyweight will give the AN/BLQ-11 Long-term Mine Reconnaissance System a thorough going-over; system capable of twelve hours of autonomous reconnaissance before docking itself through the torpedo tube; testing to begin at Puget Sound and Bahamas
More proof that unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) continue to hold the U.S. Navy’s interest. Boeing this week announced an $11 million contract for the refurbishment of the AN/BLQ-11 Long-term Mine Reconnaissance System, a deal that requires the company to test the UUV’s capabilities via sea testing. designed to be launched, torpedo-style, from Los Angeles class submarines to survey, detect, and gather data on underwater objects for more than twelve hours, the AN/BLQ-11 is the only submarine-certified, fully autonomous UUV system capable of docking with an underway submarine. “We proved the feasibility of the homing and docking portion of the AN/BLQ-11 recovery concept,” said Boeing’s Tom Jones. “With this next round of testing, we will show the repeatability of the process and complete a full recovery evolution.” The work will be performed at Boeing facilities in Anaheim, California, and at test ranges in Puget Sound, Washington, Norfolk, Virginia, and the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center near Andros Island, Bahamas.
-read more in this company news release
