US Navy receives first Dive-LD drone submarine

Defence Blog

By: Dylan Malyasov

April 5, 2025


Defense tech company Anduril has delivered its first Dive-LD autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to the U.S. Navy, the company said Friday.

The Dive-LD was handed over to Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Squadron 1 (UUVRON-1), which is tasked with developing and operating undersea drones for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and other naval missions.

According to Anduril, the delivery underscores growing interest in modular, long-endurance systems that can be adapted to a wide range of tasks in maritime environments.

“Dive-LD’s endurance, modular design, and adaptable payloads bring critical solutions to missions undersea,” the company said in a brief statement.

The Dive-LD platform is built for extended operations without requiring human intervention, and is designed to carry out missions such as undersea mapping, communications relays, and seabed infrastructure inspection. While Anduril has not disclosed detailed specifications, the vehicle’s low-profile design and autonomy systems are tailored for both military and commercial use.

As noted by the company, unique 3D printed exterior and novel manufacturing processes for core internal structure components and buoyancy inside the vehicle enable rapidly customizable AUVs at a fraction of the cost.

The Navy has been steadily investing in unmanned undersea systems as part of its broader shift toward distributed maritime operations and reduced reliance on traditional crewed platforms.

UUVRON-1, based in Keyport, Washington, was established to integrate these technologies into the fleet. The delivery of Dive-LD will allow sailors and engineers to begin evaluation and field testing under operational conditions.

While the Navy has explored a range of unmanned underwater vehicles over the past decade, systems like Dive-LD represent a new generation of autonomous platforms built from the ground up for flexibility and endurance in complex maritime environments.

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