House and Senate appropriators are supporting the Navy's decision to fully divest from its large unmanned undersea vehicle program and are directing the service to pivot to commercially available UUV technology.
In the explanatory statement accompanying the omnibus bill, appropriators cite improvements in commercially available UUV technologies and encourage the Navy to “prioritize advancements in autonomy, endurance, and multimission payload capability now available in the commercial LDUUV sector.”
The Navy’s fiscal year 2023 budget request included no funding for Snakehead -- the Navy’s largest submarine launched UUV -- and proposed total divestment from the platform including all planned future procurements.
Snakehead was intended to provide increased endurance, depth capability and payload capacity beyond small and medium UUVs. But the program has struggled with schedule delays and faced concerns over limited deployment opportunities.
In April, budget documents indicated the Navy would stop funding the program, closing out product development in the fourth quarter of FY-22 and halting phase two efforts.
The Navy estimated by canceling the program, it would save $185.9 million in FY-23 and $516.8 million across future years, according to budget documents.
Snakehead’s termination occurred despite an effort to save the program by the Senate Armed Services Committee, which proposed $100 million of program funding in its July draft of the defense authorization bill. The compromise defense authorization bill -- signed into law by the president on Dec. 23 -- acknowledged the Navy’s decision to cancel the program and directed the service to evaluate commercial options.
The program’s elimination comes just after Snakehead became available for fleet use, with the first Snakehead prototype christened in February 2022.
The Navy announced last week that the system was used to test a new launch and recovery concept for large unmanned undersea vehicles, demonstrating an approach that could allow amphibious ships to deploy large UUVs.
The demonstration paired Snakehead with HII’s Pharos large launch and recovery vehicle, according to separate releases from the Navy and from HII.
“Pharos, with the Snakehead LDUUV embarked in its cradle, was lowered down and pulled up a ramp to simulate disembarking and embarking the system in the well deck of an amphibious ship,” HII’s announcement states. “The simulation ensured that the 22,000-pound pull was within the existing capabilities of an LPD as operating in the Navy Fleet.”
The demonstration brought the Navy one step closer to testing the concept on an amphibious ship. The approach may also be used for land-based launch and recovery.
HII performed another demonstration in June, using Pharos to launch and recover the Proteus large diameter unmanned underwater vehicle prototype. During the test, Pharos was towed behind a small craft to simulate an amphibious ship traveling at slow speeds.
Following this demonstration, HII entered into two separate Cooperative Research and Development Agreements with the Navy to further develop the capability, according to the company’s announcement.