FALL RIVER, Mass. — L3Harris Technologies has received an order to upgrade three Iver3 autonomous underwater vehicles to be used in support of the British Royal Navy’s Project Wilton, the company said in a June 12 release.
L3Harris will upgrade the Iver3 vehicles with the capability to integrate high accuracy navigation sensors and advanced communications for surface tracking, with collaborative autonomy architecture and automatic target recognition. The U.K. Royal Navy will use the upgraded Iver vehicles during unmanned mine hunting and other missions.
The Project Wilton program will provide a portable route survey capability using a suite of equipment, including autonomous surface craft, autonomous underwater vehicles, remotely operated vehicles, and a portable operations center. The initial program operating capability is planned for the third quarter of 2020.
“We look forward to trialing and incorporating the upgraded Iver3 as part of the Wilton equipment set,” said Cmdr. Steven White, the commander of the Royal Navy’s First Mine Counter Measures Squadron (MCM1), which conducts route survey operations in U.K. waters and in many areas throughout the world to ensure freedom of navigation for commercial and military vessels.
“We are pleased to support the Royal Navy in their mine countermeasure missions and peacetime route surveys,” said Daryl Slocum, vice president/general manager Unmanned Maritime Systems, L3Harris.
“We are proud to be part of the autonomy revolution and will continue to evolve the Iver platform to keep it at the cutting edge.”
