U.S. Navy certifies Rolls-Royce engines for long-duration autonomous vessels

On September 2, Rolls-Royce announced that its mtu Series 4000 and Series 2000 marine engines had been certified by the U.S. Navy for autonomous naval operations. The Series 4000 completed two 720-hour durability tests and is cleared for autonomous applications up to 4,300 kW propulsion power and 3,000 kWe generation. The significance is reliability: Navy unmanned vessels need propulsion systems capable of operating for extended periods without onboard crews performing maintenance. This removes an important technical barrier to scaling medium and large USVs beyond demonstrations.