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European defence technology start-up Helsing has unveiled plans for a fleet of unmanned mini submarines that it claims will greatly enhance naval surveillance, at a time of rising threats to ships and critical ocean infrastructure.
The company said its autonomous glider, SG-1 Fathom, would be able to patrol underwater for up to three months at a time.
It will be equipped with an artificial intelligence system, dubbed Lura, which will be able to detect and classify sounds made by nearby ships and submarines faster and with greater accuracy than available alternatives, Helsing said.
Gundbert Scherf, co-founder and co-chief executive of Helsing, said the Lura platform would “detect so our navies can deter”.
Lura would be able to detect the so-called acoustic signatures of vessels up to 40 times faster than human operators, and at volumes 10 times quieter than other AI models, Helsing claimed.
The company added a single operator would be able to monitor hundreds of SG-1 Fathom gliders, receiving intelligence at just 10 per cent of the cost of crewed anti-submarine warfare patrols. Helsing plans to deploy the system within the next 12 months.
The war in Ukraine has underlined a shift in modern warfare, from the use of traditional hardware such as tanks, guns and munitions, to more technologically sophisticated alternatives, in particular autonomous systems.
Western governments have meanwhile been scaling up their underwater reconnaissance capabilities, amid rising attacks on subsea cables and other critical infrastructure on the ocean bed.
The UK Royal Navy earlier this year outlined plans to deploy a fleet of both crewed and uncrewed vehicles to provide an anti-submarine warfare capability.
Under the programme, known as Project Cabot, the navy will work with defence contractors to use underwater drones to collect acoustic data, which can then be processed using AI to detect potential threats.
In a second stage, the Royal Navy plans to conduct surveillance in the Atlantic Ocean using its own vessels, including unmanned naval drones.
The programme comes as the UK Ministry of Defence is preparing to publish the results of a strategic defence review led by Lord George Robertson, the former secretary-general of Nato.
The review is expected to underline Britain’s need for strong defences in the north Atlantic to counter the threat of Moscow’s sabotage and surveillance activity.
Despite the intensity of the war in Ukraine, Russia has continued to invest in its northern fleet, which has sophisticated underwater capabilities for mapping and disrupting vital infrastructure belonging to Nato allies.
A renewed focus in this region would be in line with US requests for the UK military to focus more on the Euro-Atlantic and less on Asia.
Helsing, which was founded in 2021 and valued at €4.95bn during its latest funding round last summer, hopes to be one of the private sector beneficiaries.
The UK government is also planning to consult technology companies, such as Helsing, as it formulates a new industrial strategy for the defence sector.
Helsing is partnering with underwater drone group Blue Ocean Marine Tech Systems, maritime robotics specialist Ocean Infinity and FTSE 250 defence group Qinetiq to deliver Lura and the SG-1 Fathom to customers.
Additional reporting by Helen Warrell
