On Thursday, March 26, Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) announced that it had closed its acquisition of Hydroid Inc. HII says that the acquisition expands its capabilities in the “strategically important and rapidly growing” autonomous and unmanned maritime systems market.

Hydroid will become part of HII’s Technical Solutions Unmanned Systems business unit, which now includes UUVs such as the Orca extra-large UUV. The addition of Hydroid expands HII’s capabilities in the medium and small UUV space, with the inclusion of vehicles such as the REMUS and Seaglider AUVs, as well as marine robots.

Duane Fotheringham will serve as president of Unmanned Systems. The previous president and chairman of the board at Hydroid, Fotheringham joined the company in 2008 as the vice president of operations, and played an integral role in the research and development, engineering and manufacturing of the REMUS line of AUVs. Mary White will serve as vice president of operations and strategy for the new Unmanned Systems business.

“The combination of HII and Hydroid brings together the full range of UUVs,” says Andy Green, HII executive vice president and president of Technical Solutions.

“Combined, we can now offer a comprehensive suite of autonomous underwater vehicle systems that address our customers’ needs. While this is a perfect complement to our existing UUV business, more importantly, it brings together brilliant and talented people who are at the leading edge of unmanned systems technology.”

A designer and manufacturer of technologies that can be used for various applications including defense, marine research and commercial, Hydroid has provided the U.S. Navy and its allies with combat-proven UUVs for more than 15 years. The UUVs deliver sensors to sensitive areas, and collect data in all operational environments for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance applications.

The vehicles have been used for everything including undersea mine countermeasures that have helped save lives, helping to locate Air France Flight 447 wreckage and generate 3D mapping of the Titanic, and offering scientists data relevant to climate change and other environmental issues.

Along with its acquisition of Hydroid, HII has also established a strategic alliance with Kongsberg Maritime to jointly market naval and maritime products and services to the U.S. government market, with potential to expand to global markets.