Kongsberg and Navantia agree to study fitting HUGIN underwater drones to submarines

Norwegian defence company Kongsberg and Spanish shipbuilder Navantia signed a memorandum of understanding at the Euronaval show in Paris on 4 November to explore putting autonomous underwater vehicles and sonar systems into conventional submarines, Naval Technology reported.

A central part of the plan is fitting Kongsberg's HUGIN autonomous underwater vehicles to submarines. Kongsberg will bring its autonomy and sonar expertise and Navantia will lead the integration, with the work meant to meet the standards of the Spanish Navy and other NATO navies.

Camilla Kiss, executive vice-president at Kongsberg and president of its Discovery division, said the next phase will focus on bringing HUGIN and other underwater technology into conventional submarines.