California drone developer Anduril Industries will establish a new center in Quonset Point, Rhode Island to increase its Dive-LD autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) production.

The factory will encompass 150,000 square meters (37 acres) of area and will include dedicated service bays, testing laboratories, and additional spaces to accommodate lifecycle tasks from research through sustainment.

The center is expected to boost the assembly of Dive-LD’s family of AUVs to more than 200 annually and create over 100 jobs within the first five years of its launch in 2025.

“We are thrilled to build a state-of-the-art production manufacturing facility for our LD family of vehicles in Quonset Point. Affordable, distributed mass is a central tenet of undersea deterrence and we look forward to supporting large-scale, cost-effective AUV deployments with our new facility,” Anduril Industries SVP Shane Arnott stated.

“Our Maritime Division continues to develop advanced undersea capabilities and, with large contract awards both in the United States and Australia, we are committed to the mass manufacturing of those proven capabilities at speed and at scales that matter.”

US Navy LDUUV Contract

The announcement follows Anduril’s selection under the Defense Innovation Unit’s prototyping effort to develop Large Displacement Unmanned Underwater Vehicles or LDUUVs for the US Navy.

The project involved a “swim-off” competition and was followed by an $18.6-million order for Anduril’s Dive AUVs.

“Over the last 6 months, the US Navy, in partnership with DIU and Congress, has driven an aggressive program timeline to put vendors on contract, acquire capabilities, and rapidly demonstrate those capabilities with warfighters,” Anduril Industries Director Nick Stoner said.

“This contract is a fantastic example of how the US Navy can incentivize industry to make capital investments and produce the kinds of undersea asymmetric advantages our Fleet Commanders need, on the timelines they need them.”

Anduril’s ‘Reliable, Flexible’ System

Dive-LD is a 3-ton (2,720-kilogram) system designed for seafloor missions down to 6,000 meters (19,700 feet).

It is built with a 3D-printed chassis to sustain buoyancy and support user configurations. It has a speed of up to 7 knots (13 kilometers/8 miles per hour), a survey range of up to 313 nautical miles (580 miles), and up to 10 days of autonomous, long-endurance deployment.

“Dive-LD is foundational to Anduril’s maritime capabilities for commercial and defense applications,” Anduril Chief Strategy Officer Chris Brose explained during the recent US Navy competition.

“By combining proven subsea vehicle development expertise with advanced manufacturing processes, the platform is quick to produce, economical to manufacture and service, simple to customize, and robust in operation.”

“Dive-LD is the most reliable and flexible AUV on the market today, capable of rapidly integrating complex payloads or multi-sensor suites to provide advanced capability for a wide range of missions.”

Authorities have suspended their search for a 20-year-old man who went missing in the waters off Newport’s Ocean Drive near 12 O’Clock High on Sunday evening. The search and rescue operation, involving multiple agencies, will resume as a recovery effort at sunrise on Monday.

The young man disappeared just after 5 p.m., prompting a large-scale response from Newport, Middletown, and Jamestown authorities, along with the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) and the U.S. Coast Guard. The coordinated effort saw helicopters, boats, and rescue swimmers scouring the area in hopes of locating the missing swimmer.

Despite their extensive efforts, authorities were unable to locate the man before nightfall. Given the challenging conditions and fading daylight, the decision was made to suspend the search for the evening.

The identity of the missing man has not been released.

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WEST GREENWICH — A Lincoln, R.I., man was arrested Saturday on two outstanding warrants following a traffic stop on Route 95, Rhode Island State Police said.

Chad C. Killingsworth, 39, was taken into custody at 1:56 p.m. on June 22, 2024, after troopers pulled over his vehicle in West Greenwich.

Killingsworth had a Third Division District Court bench warrant for failing to appear for trial on a charge of driving under the influence of liquor with a blood alcohol content of .15 or greater.

The original charge stemmed from an incident handled by the State Police Wickford Barracks.

He also had a Providence Superior Court bench warrant for failing to appear for a pre-trial conference on a charge of possession of a controlled substance, Schedule I to V, originally filed by the East Providence Police Department.

After his arrest, Killingsworth was transported to the Hope Valley Barracks for processing.

He was then taken to the Adult Correctional Institution – Men’s Intake Center.