Thales-led defense project to enhance Europe’s underwater warfare capabilities

Within the European Defense Fund (EDF) framework, French company Thales is leading a defense project SEACURE to achieve a sovereign European capability in future autonomous anti-submarine and seabed warfare.

The SEACURE program, which involves 35 partners from 13 European Union member states, began in November 2024 and is expected to last 45 months. It builds on the European Defense Industrial Development Program (EDIDP) SEANICE project, completed at the end of 2023.

As disclosed, the project’s main objective is to develop and demonstrate at sea, by 2028, an integrated system of systems aimed at successfully performing autonomous joint anti-submarine and seabed warfare operations and protecting critical maritime infrastructure.

SEACURE focuses on the detection, classification, identification and tracking of underwater threats in challenging conditions, using air, surface and underwater drones, Thales noted, adding that the project will offer a versatile defense system for such operations, increasing the level of autonomy, based on open, agile, modular and scalable system-of-systems architecture. In addition, it will, reportedly, be interoperable and ready for collaborative combat.

“SEACURE not only strengthens maritime security today, but also lays the groundwork for a more resilient and cooperative global maritime future,” Thales claimed.