Vehicle News

Autonomy is often described as removing people from operations. That’s not quite right.It’s not a case of people ‘simply’ being replaced by machines. It’s about the move from vessel-centered operations to shore-enabled operations. People still matter, but their roles, locations and relationships with the operation change fundamentally. Uncrewed doesn’t mean unattended.Control is redistributed, not removedIn our coastal surveillance work in the Middle East, multiple vessels can operate simultaneously under the oversight of an onshore control center.

All American Marine (AAM) announced the delivery of a 78-foot aluminum research vessel commissioned by the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW). Following successful sea trials at AAM’s Bellingham, WA facility, R/V Osprey has arrived in Florida and is currently making her way up the coast to her home port of Wilmington, NC. There, she will support UNCW’s faculty, students, and research partners conducting scientific and educational missions along the Mid-Atlantic, U.S.

[video courtesy Saildrone]Saildrone and Lockheed Martin demonstrated a new armed autonomous naval capability during RIMPAC 2026, successfully launching two Joint Air-to-Ground Missiles (JAGM) from a Saildrone Surveyor unmanned surface vessel (USV) off Hawaii.The live-fire exercise marked the first missile launch from a Saildrone platform, moving the commercially derived USV beyond its established intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and ocean-mapping roles into kinetic operations.Conducted under the U.S.

HII has announced that the U.S. Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has officially recognized the successful completion of the company’s production-ready, inexpensive, maritime expeditionary (PRIME) prototype project.The prototype features the Watcher small unmanned surface vessel (sUSV), which is based on HII’s Romulus-25 USV and powered by HII’s Odyssey autonomous control system.The DIU recognition follows HII’s delivery and successful sea testing of two autonomous Watcher Romulus…

Greater vehicle sophistication is pushing surveys and offshore energy inspections further towards autonomy.When the Norwegian Offshore Directorate set its new HUGIN autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to work in June, there was a moment’s reflection on the fact that deep sea areas have actually been mapped since the 1800s. In the early days, simple weights were used to measure water depth and give the first indications of subsea structures and seabed morphology. There have been substantial technological developments since then.Philip Lewis…

Chile will export its first floating laboratory to the United States after ASENAV signed a contract to build a hybrid vessel dedicated to ocean research for the University California of San Diego.From its home port in San Diego, California, the 38-meter vessel will serve hundreds of scientists and students each year along the Eastern Pacific coast as part of the U.S. Academic Research Fleet. The NB 201 project, designed by US-based naval architecture firm Glosten, will replace Research Vessel Robert Gordon Sproul…

For much of the maritime industry, the energy transition has been discussed in terms of alternative fuels – primarily LNG, methanol, ammonia, or hydrogen. Batteries have often been treated as a narrow tool for limited-purpose vessels, such as water taxis and harbor craft. That view is becoming too constrained.The importance of batteries comes not from technology enthusiasm alone. Global shipping accounts for roughly 3% of planet-warming emissions. Meanwhile, International Maritime…

Technology companies and shipyards are vying for attention as the US unmanned navy grows in size and sophistication.No too long ago, US Navy Secretary John Phelan said: “If the last few years of conflict have taught us anything, it is that we will not win the wars of the future with the platforms of the past.” The nation’s ability to deter future conflict or to prevail, if necessary, will benefit from high quantities of low-cost air, surface and subsea unmanned systems. These…

UAV Navigation-Grupo Oesía, a Spanish company that specializes in guidance, navigation, and control solutions for unmanned vehicles, announced the release of software version 9.2, introducing enhanced interoperability, modularity, and multi-domain operational capabilities.Version 9.2 further strengthens coordinated multi-domain UxV operations, enabling interaction between aerial and maritime platforms. The navigation and control system supports heterogeneous UAV-USV swarms, including shared situational awareness and cooperative behaviors across air and sea domains.

ACUA Ocean's Mk1 USV PIONEER has successfully completed a five-day remotely operated offshore demonstration, validating persistent, multi-domain maritime operations using an uncrewed surface vessel.On Monday 22 June 2026, PIONEER departed Turnchapel Wharf, Plymouth, and operated continuously 16–20 nautical miles offshore until Friday 26 June, completing more than 100 hours at sea without physical intervention. The demonstration combined two independent mission systems operating simultaneously:A CommsAudit SPECTRA Super Resolution Direction Finding (SRDF) surveillance system…

KONGSBERG has supplied a comprehensive package of advanced ocean science and navigation technologies for RV Anna Weber-van Bosse, the new ocean research vessel owned and operated by Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ).Christened on the island of Texel in early March, the 80-meter newbuild has been outfitted with a range of innovations including HiPAP acoustic positioning systems, EM304 and EM2040 multibeam echosounders, TOPAS sub-bottom profiling technology, advanced echosounders for water column observation…

Saronic launched Mirage, a 52-ft. dual-use Autonomous Surface Vessel (ASV) that joins the 24-ft. Corsair and 180-ft. Marauder as the third flagship platform in Saronic’s growing fleet, and is the latest milestone in a production model delivering autonomous vessels at speed and scale. According to Saronic, Mirage went from initial design to launch in under a year, and now begins on-water trials at the company’s privately funded test facility in Galveston, Texas, with the next hull already on the production line at the company’s Austin headquarters.

Autonomous vehicles are increasingly sophisticated defensive tools for ports wanting to protect against maritime threats - including attacks from other autonomous vehicles.In December 15 last year, the Security Service of Ukraine reported that its underwater drone had struck a Russian submarine in Novorossiysk. The incident highlighted just how sophisticated potential threats have become. Harbor cameras were likely hacked, providing real-time visual evidence of the attack, with…

ABS and MOBY Robotics Inc. have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to advance technologies supporting subsea mining and offshore mineral transport.The MoU establishes a framework for ABS to support MOBY in the development, certification and eventual classification of autonomous robotic systems and other key technologies in accordance with ABS Requirements for Subsea Mining and ABS Offshore Rules. Areas of focus include subsea and surface robotics, vertical lifting systems…

The “Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional” (BRIN), Indonesia’s national agency for research and innovation, has commissioned the French shipbuilder PIRIOU to design and build two research vessels:a multimission offshore hydro-oceanographic vessel (ORV – Ocean Going Research Vessel) and a coastal research vessel (CRV – Coastal Research Vessel).The order was signed on June 11, 2026 during a ceremony held in Indonesia, attended by representatives of BRIN, Stéphane BURGAUD, PIRIOU’s Commercial Director, and the project’s institutional partners.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) and Japan Airlines (JAL) have entered into an agreement with Lloyd's Register and U.S.-based REGENT Craft to jointly develop certification and operational approval processes for REGENT's fully electric Seaglider vessel, as the companies work toward commercial deployment in Japan.The initiative marks the first collaboration in Japan involving a classification society aimed at supporting the commercialization of Seaglider vessels.Seagliders are fully electric wing-in-ground effect craft that operate a few metres above the water surface using ground effect.

Fleetzero, a U.S.-based developer of marine technology, has announced a collaboration with Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors, a leading U.S. shipbuilder, and Glosten, a Seattle-based global naval architecture and marine engineering firm, to accelerate the development and deployment of integrated autonomous vessel solutions for commercial maritime, government, and defense customers.The partnership brings together Fleetzero's Leviathan™ Battery Energy Storage System, propulsion technologies…

The U.S. Navy has selected HII’s ROMULUS unmanned surface vessel to advance to the at-sea testing phase of the Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) program.Andy Green, executive vice president of HII and president of HII’s Mission Technologies division, said: “HII is proud that ROMULUS USV has advanced to the U.S. Navy’s Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel evaluation phase, a milestone that reflects HII’s longstanding track record for delivering mission-ready autonomous capabilities that support the U.S.

Maritime Tactical Systems, Inc. (MARTAC), a provider of autonomous unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), and Mystic Power boats, a leader in high-performance composite vessel construction, announced a co-production partnership to increase MARTAC’s domestic production capacity to meet growing requirements from U.S. and allied customers.MARTAC’s partnership with Mystic is the first of several pending domestic co-production partnerships the company is finalizing that will support a expansion of its co-production framework.

The U.S. Department of the Navy has selected seven companies to advance to the at-sea testing phase of its Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) marketplace initiative.The companies selected for the MUSV Family of Systems development program are Sea Machines, Leidos, Saronic Technologies, Galliano Marine Services, PacMar Technologies, Birdon, and Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII).The Navy said companies whose vessels successfully complete at-sea testing will receive $15 million…

Seasats today announced that a Lightfish uncrewed surface vessel (USV) has completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, a contested waterway separating Taiwan and mainland China.The vessel was deployed by Seasats from hundreds of miles away, and traversed the full length of the strait over five days while continuously monitoring surface vessel traffic. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, including a People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056…

Saronic has launched its first Marauder Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV), designed to deliver dual-use autonomous capability far from shore across the full range of defense and commercial applications.Marauder is built for the kinds of sustained, long-range missions that place the greatest demands on any maritime vessel and present the greatest risks to any crew. Operating fully autonomously or under remote human supervision, Marauder is designed tooperate far from shore…

The United States, Britain and Australia are working together to develop unmanned undersea vehicles as part of their trilateral AUKUS defence pact, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told reporters on Saturday.AUKUS said in a joint statement that delivery of the vehicles will start in 2027.The program will improve the three nations' reconnaissance and strike capabilities, "and bolster superiority in anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare, mine countermeasures, electronic warfare, and contested littoral manoeuvre," the statement added.