General Dynamics Mission Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics, showcased the new Bluefin-12 autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle at Defense and Security Equipment International (DSEI) 2019.

The Bluefin-12 is a lightweight medium-class unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) designed to deliver mission critical data and complete high-consequence and changing missions.

This new vehicle builds upon the proven Bluefin autonomy and uses shared Bluefin Robotics’ core capabilities, increased mission modularity and embedded intelligence to complete users’ long endurance, high-consequence and changing missions, according to a company news release.

The base Bluefin-12’s extended modularity supports the integration of user-designated sensors and payloads to deliver new mission-critical capabilities. The Bluefin Robotics core autonomy with Standard Payload Interfaces (SPI), open-architecture compatibility and greater than 4,000 cubic centimeter-payload section supports the rapid integration of sensors and payload needed for the successful completion of new missions. The Bluefin-12 may be configured with an optional turnkey survey package delivering integrated survey capabilities including high-resolution sonar, environmental sensing, powerful on-board data processing and highly accurate navigation.

 “The General Dynamics’ team has invested in a completely new generation of vehicles,” said Andy Rogers, vice president of undersea systems at General Dynamics Mission Systems. “The new Bluefin-12 provides superior design, high quality, excellent modularity and best-in-class reliability to deliver exceptional mission capability and range.”

“We are proud to add the Bluefin-12 to our UUV family of products and to deliver both the Bluefin-12 and Bluefin-9 UUVs to Thales in support of the Royal Australian Navy’s SEA 1778 program,” Rogers said.  

The base model Bluefin-12 is a modular, extendible UUV able to accommodate the integration of operator designated sensors and payloads. The Bluefin Robotics Standard Payload Interfaces, open-architecture compatibility and more than 4,000 cm³ payload section supports the rapid integration of sensors and payload needed for the successful completion of new missions.