Vatn Systems, Palantir Partner to Scale Manufacturing of AUVs for National Defense
Vatn Systems, a leading defense technology company building autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) for the US military and allies, announced a strategic partnership with Palantir Technologies to further digitize and scale its manufacturing capabilities."Palantir's technology gives us real-time visibility into our operations, strengthening our ability to anticipate challenges, optimize resources, and deliver critical systems to our customers with unprecedented speed and precision," said Nelson Mills, co-founder and CEO of Vatn Systems.The partnership leverages Palantir's software
Google to Build Subsea Cable for Christmas Island
," said Communications Minister Michelle Rowland in a statement.The other partners in the cable project include Australian data centre company NextDC, Macquarie-backed telecommunications group Vocus, and Subco.Subco previously built an Indian Ocean cable from Perth to Oman with spurs to the U.S. military base of Diego Garcia, and Cocos Islands, where Australia is upgrading a runway for defence surveillance aircraft.Although 900 km (560 miles) apart, Christmas Island is seen as an Indian Ocean neighbour of Cocos Islands, which the Australian Defence Force has said is key to its maritime surveillance
OPT Wraps Up Second Set of WAM-V Trials US Navy
.The tests are part of the previously announced follow-on contract as a subcontractor to EpiSci and Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific’s Project Overmatch.Under this contract, OPT continues to enhance the operational capability of its autonomous maritime technologies to support the U.S. military and its allies. The first set of exercises was concluded over the summer and the completion of these most recent exercises will support immediate revenue recognition, the company said."We are very excited about the completion of this exercise. The technological capabilities of our WAM-Vs together
OPT Bags $1M Contract from US Navy for Autonomous Maritime Tech
Ocean Power Technologies (OPT) been awarded a follow-on contract valued at $1 million to further advance the operational capability of its autonomous maritime technologies to support the U.S. military and its allies.OPT secured the follow-on contract as a subcontractor to EpiSci after the successful 12-month demonstration of its autonomous surface vehicle technologies during the Mission Autonomy Proving Grounds (MAPG) as part of Project Overmatch.With this award, OPT will continue to ruggedize and enhance its operational capability of its autonomous maritime technologies to support the U.S. military
Ukraine's Drone Success Shapes US Pacific 'Hellscape' Strategy
sides in the Russia-Ukraine war than conventional artillery - a major technological shift that is now also at the heart of U.S. and allied preparations for a potential war in Asia.'Unmanned hellscape'At the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore last month, the head of the U.S. military's Indo-Pacific Command took the unusual step of deliberately briefing the Washington Post that secret swarms of U.S. and allied drones were now at the heart of U.S. hopes to deter China from trying to invade Taiwan – or to defeat that invasion if it happened."I want to turn the Taiwan
Sea Drone Warfare has Arrived, and the US is Floundering
Spokesman Eric Pahon told Reuters.In a signal of the Pentagon's intent, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks announced an initiative in August - named Replicator - to deploy hundreds of small, relatively cheap air and sea drones within the next 18-24 months to match China's growing military threat.This public show of commitment masks years of hesitation by the U.S. Navy to build a fleet of unmanned vessels despite repeated warnings this was the future of maritime warfare, according to interviews with a dozen people with direct knowledge of the U.S. sea drone plans, including Navy officers
Metal Shark Debuts Prowler Autonomous Vessel and Frenzy Micro-USV
Louisiana-based boat builder Metal Shark has unveiled Prowler, its new autonomous, amphibious, and semi-submersible military craft engineered to meet the current and near future warfighting requirements of the U.S. military and its allies. The company is also debuting Frenzy, a high-performance, low-cost, amphibious micro-USV (uncrewed surface vehicle) with a payload carrying capacity of up to 14 pounds.“Prowler represents the sum total of everything we’ve learned while building 400-plus autonomous and remote operated vessels for our military customers over the past decade,” said
Kongsberg Discovery Wins US Navy DIU Contract
Innovation Unit (DIU) award to assist in the U.S. Navy’s Large Displacement Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (LDUUV) prototype.Kongsberg Discovery has been awarded a contract with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to rapidly deliver HUGIN Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) capabilities for the U.S. Military. The total contract could result in the Navy acquiring HUGIN Endurance and HUGIN Superior deep-water AUV systems.HUGIN Endurance, one of the newest members in the HUGIN AUV family, measures 39-ft. long and nearly 4-ft. in diameter, with a 15-day endurance, enabling unsupervised shore-to-shore
Taiwan Expects to Deploy Two New Submarines by 2027
with missiles, to strengthen deterrence against the Chinese navy and protect key supply lines, the head of the program said.Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has made the indigenous sub program a key part of an ambitious project to modernise its armed forces as Beijing stages almost daily military exercises to assert its sovereignty.President Tsai Ing-wen, who initiated the program when she took office in 2016, is expected to launch the first of eight new submarines on Thursday under a plan that has drawn on expertise and technology from several countries - a breakthrough for diplomatically
February 2025
