Sweden's FMV awards Saab development and demonstration contract for LUUV

A concept graphic of Saab's planned LUUV in front of a future Blekinge (A26)-class submarine. (Saab)

Saab has been awarded a SEK60 million (USD6.3 million) contract by the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (Försvarets materielverk: FMV) to develop and demonstrate a new large unmanned underwater vehicle (LUUV).

The project is led by the FMV with Saab as the prime contractor. Development of the LUUV has already commenced, and initial sea trials are planned for the third quarter of 2026.

The LUUV is intended to operate as a sensor platform, and “will serve as a decision support tool for operators and will not be designed to carry weapons in the first phase”, according to a 29 August Saab press release. The Swedish Armed Forces (Försvarsmakten) said in a separate release that the LUUV will “be able to independently detect, monitor, and respond to threats” and indicated that the system will assist in critical underwater infrastructure (CUI) protection tasks and seabed surveillance in the Baltic Sea.

The new LUUV will feature Saab's Autonomous Ocean Core system, an autonomous control system for unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). The LUUV will be able to be integrated with, and be embarked on, ships and other craft. Initial imagery published by Saab shows a large torpedo-shaped UUV with X-shaped control surfaces and a single thruster at the stern. For manoeuvring, there will likely be further horizontal and diagonal thrusters fore and aft. Forward-looking and side-scan sonars appear to be planned for the nose section and on the sides of the UUV respectively.