Companies will advance AI capabilities for both unmanned and manned vessels
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md., (April 21 2026) — HII (NYSE: HII) and Applied Intuition, Inc., the leading physical AI company, today signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at the Sea-Air-Space Exposition 2026 to collaborate on the development and integration of AI-defined capabilities for next-generation naval platforms.
The MOU sets a framework for the two companies to collaborate on advancing Applied Intuition’s “Warship OS™,” an AI-defined operating system that integrates data and AI from bow to stern of maritime platforms, which is a powerful new offering under Vehicle OS for all domains. The effort is aimed at improving ship performance, accelerating pathways for data and artificial intelligence to every ship system, and enabling scalable autonomy across both unmanned and manned vessels.
“Signing this agreement at Sea-Air-Space underscores the importance of industry collaboration in shaping the future of autonomous naval manned-unmanned teaming capabilities,” said Eric Chewning, HII executive vice president of maritime systems and corporate strategy. “By combining HII’s extensive shipbuilding and unmanned maritime expertise with Applied Intuition’s advanced AI capabilities, we are accelerating the development of AI-defined warships that can adapt to rapidly evolving mission needs.”
“Warship OS is a fundamental shift in how naval capability is developed and deployed,” said Peter Ludwig, co-founder and CTO of Applied Intuition. “By bringing an AI-defined approach to maritime platforms, we can dramatically accelerate the pace of innovation and give operators the flexibility to adapt to evolving mission needs in real time. Partnering with HII allows us to pair world-class shipbuilding with modern software infrastructure to define the next generation of naval power.”
HII is the nation’s largest shipbuilder and the world’s leading manufacturer of autonomous surface and underwater unmanned vehicles. Applied Intuition is a dual-use technology company powering physical AI across industries, building the foundational AI, simulation, and operating systems that allow any moving machine to perceive, decide, and act intelligently.
This partnership showcases the power of combining a leading hardware provider with a Silicon Valley software company to deliver integrated, AI-defined capabilities for modern defense systems. By uniting deep maritime engineering expertise with cutting-edge AI and software infrastructure, HII and Applied Intuition aim to accelerate the shift toward more adaptable, interoperable, and autonomous naval platforms.
Strategic Collaboration Areas
Under the MOU, HII and Applied Intuition will pursue collaboration across multiple key areas:
- Warship OSTM for Unmanned Platforms: The companies will collaborate to integrate Applied Intuition’s commercial operating system software into HII’s ROMULUS family of unmanned surface vessels (USVs) currently under construction at the Breaux Brothers shipyard in Louisiana. The effort will focus on enabling coordinated system-level behavior across autonomy, navigation and mission systems, reducing integration burden, and demonstrating the operational advantages of AI-defined maritime platforms for U.S. and allied navies and joint forces.
- Warship OSTM for Manned Platforms: Building on unmanned integration efforts, HII and Applied Intuition will explore extending Warship OSTM to future crewed naval platforms. This includes early-stage design and engineering collaboration aligned with evolving U.S. Navy requirements, with an emphasis on open architecture, interoperability and rapid capability insertion. HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division will play a central role in maturing these concepts for next-generation surface combatants.
Through this collaboration, the companies will engage in ongoing technical discussions, product development alignment and exploration of future opportunities, including Warship OSTM integration on HII’s REMUS unmanned underwater vehicles.
About the ROMULUS USV
HII’s ROMULUS is a modular family of AI-enabled USVs designed to meet current and emerging requirements for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, joint forces, and allied partners. The platform supports a wide range of missions, including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), mine countermeasures, strike operations, counter-unmanned systems, and the launch and recovery of unmanned underwater and aerial vehicles. Engineered for serial, repeatable production, ROMULUS vessels combine endurance, global reach, and modular adaptability. The family is designed to scale across multiple vessel sizes while maintaining a common manufacturing approach and autonomy baseline.
