The U.S. Navy recently held a ceremony to mark the completion of facility modifications and the start of building construction work for the testing, evaluation and demonstration of unmanned vehicle prototypes at Naval Base Ventura County Port Hueneme in California.
The Naval Sea Systems Command said Tuesday extra-large unmanned undersea vehicles will reside at Port Hueneme’s modified littoral combat ship support facility while unmanned surface vessels will be operated and maintained from a new modular administrative building.
According to the organization, the site’s open-water ranges, expeditionary transportation capabilities, close distance to naval and industry hubs and relationship with tenant commands makes it ideal to host unmanned vehicle testing.
“These facilities will be the focal point of Navy learning and experimentation on the capabilities, operations and sustainment of Unmanned Maritime Vehicle prototypes to inform future programs,” explained Capt. Pete Small, program manager for unmanned maritime systems.
The Navy is planning to send five Orca XLUUV prototypes, one Medium Unmanned Surface Vehicle, two Sea Hunter USVs and four Overlord USVs to NBVC in the future.