The Defense Innovation Unit awarded shipbuilder HII a contract to deliver a system that would allow Navy submarines to launch and recover vessels like HII’s REMUS unmanned underwater vehicles, the company announced today.

“This contract award reflects HII’s 25-year leadership in advancing autonomous unmanned maritime platforms and integrating them into submarine operations,” Duane Fotheringham, president of the unmanned systems group in HII’s Mission Technologies division, said. “There is no company with more expertise in both the manned and unmanned sides of teamed operations. We look forward to continuing our strong partnership with the U.S. Navy to deliver the innovative solutions our forces urgently need in the subsea domain.”

This technology has already been used by HII in multiple tests, including the launch and recovery of a REMUS 600 UUV and REMUS 620 from various submarines, according to the announcement.

Today’s news follows a similar Defense Innovation Unit award this month to L3Harris for its torpedo tube launch and recovery system.