European defense technology company Helsing has announced it is in the process of acquiring Blue Ocean, an ocean technology company that designs, develops, and operates autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs).
Helsing and Blue Ocean plan to accelerate the development and mass production of autonomous platforms for the protection of the underwater battlespace.
The acquisition will integrate Blue Ocean’s hardware and manufacturing capabilities with Helsing’s artificial intelligence (AI), with operations continuing in the UK and Australia.
“The need for a smart autonomous mass-approach is clear, and together with Blue Ocean we can build an autonomous glider that provides a big leap forward to conduct underwater ISR for navies,” Amelia Gould , General Manager, Maritime at Helsing, said.
“Blue Ocean has been a key partner for us over the last 12 months and as we seek to significantly strengthen our maritime offer to Europe and AUKUS it makes sense for us to join forces.”
“Since first meeting Helsing we have forged a strong working relationship bringing together our Autonomous Underwater Vehicle technology with Helsing’s impressive Edge AI processing to create a highly effective anti-submarine warfare and wide area surveillance capability. These are critical to compilation of the modern common operating picture and providing border and asset protection,” Mike Deeks , Group Managing Director at Blue Ocean, commented.
The strategic acquisition of Blue Ocean will speed up Helsing’s plans for AI-powered autonomous systems further.
It follows Helsing’s launch of its autonomous underwater glider, the SG-1 Fathom, earlier in the year, and its successful testing at BUTEC, an underwater military test range, in July.
SG-1 Fathom is designed for underwater surveillance to monitor the breadths and depths of the oceans. A single operator can task and monitor hundreds of gliders from a maritime headquarters, receiving accurate intelligence at 10% of the cost of crewed anti-submarine warfare (ASW) patrols.
Four months ago, Helsing also announced it is building a new resilience factory in Plymouth as part of a £350 million investment in the UK.