This crewless ship is defending Denmark's and NATO's waters
The Danish Armed Forces has announced it is deploying four uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs), dubbed 'Voyagers,' to boost surveillance capacity in under-monitored waters.
They will be patrolling in Danish and NATO waters in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea for three months, according to the Danish Armed Forces.
'The security situation in the Baltic is tense, and therefore it has been decided by Danish parliament and the Danish government to improve the capabilities of Danish defence, and this includes the maritime domain and of course this includes our maritime domain awareness,' said Kim Jørgensen, the director of the Danish National Armaments.
Powered by solar and wind energy, they can operate autonomously for months at sea.
Drones are mounted on these 10-meter-long vessels and artificial intelligence (AI) helps analyse data of the surrounding environment under and above the surface of the ocean using advanced sensors.
"So, the vehicles [work] like a truck. The truck carries the sensors and we use on-board sophisticated machine learning and AI to fuse that data to give us a full picture of what's above and below the surface," said Richard Jenkins, the founder and CEO of Saildrone, the company that makes the ships.
The firm said the autonomous sailboats can support operations such as illegal fishing detection, border enforcement, and strategic asset protection.
Denmark invests big in defence
According to a report published in 2024 from the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark, EIFO, one of the country's investment agendas lies in defence in light of the new geopolitical landscape.
The unmanned surface vehicles were purchased through a $60 million (€51,70 million) investment round led by EIFO.
The four Voyagers will be first in operation for a three-month trial, as Denmark and NATO allies aim at extending maritime presence, especially around critical undersea infrastructure such as fibre optic cables and power lines.
NATO and its allies have increased sea patrolling following several incidents, such as the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage in 2022, the Balticconnector gas pipeline burst in 2023, and undersea cable damage in the Baltic Sea in 2024.
Its developer, Saildrone, is establishing its European headquarters and operational hub in Denmark's capital, Copenhagen.
The American company says the new subsidiary will be the hub for all European operations.
For more on this story, watch the video in the media player above.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
LeMonde
5 hours ago
- LeMonde
Macron and other European leaders to join Zelensky for Ukraine talks with Trump
European leaders will join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his visit to Washington on Monday, August 18, seeking an end to Moscow's invasion, after President Donald Trump dropped his push for a ceasefire following his Alaska summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Securing a ceasefire in Ukraine, more than three years after the Kremlin ordered the invasion, had been one of Trump's core demands before the summit, to which Ukraine and its European allies were not invited. But after a meeting that yielded no clear breakthrough, Trump ruled out an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, a move that would appear to favor Putin, who has long argued for negotiations on a final peace deal. Ukraine and its European allies have criticized it as a way to buy time and press Russia's battlefield advances, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen among the leaders set to try and bend Trump's ear on the matter. Ahead of the Washington visit on Monday, von der Leyen said on X she would welcome Zelensky for a meeting in Brussels on Sunday, which other European leaders would join by video call, before accompanying the Ukrainian leader on his US trip at his "request" with "other European leaders." Macron and Merz attending French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Washington on Monday, his office said. The talks are to foster coordination between Europe and the US with the aim of "achieving a fair and lasting peace that safeguards Ukraine's vital interests and Europe's security," the French presidency said Sunday. The German government confirmed Merz would also attend and try to emphasize "interest in a swift peace agreement in Ukraine." Other attendees include Secretary General of the NATO military alliance Mark Rutte and Finnish President Alexander Stubb. Trump briefed Zelensky and European leaders on his flight back from Alaska to Washington, saying afterward that "it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace agreement which would end the war." Ceasefire agreements "often times do not hold up," Trump added on his Truth Social platform. But Zelensky has appeared unconvinced by the change of tack, saying on Saturday that it "complicates the situation." If Moscow lacks "the will to carry out a simple order to stop the strikes, it may take a lot of effort to get Russia to have the will to implement far greater – peaceful coexistence with its neighbours for decades," he said on social media.
Euronews
5 hours ago
- Euronews
Von der Leyen to travel to Washington to join Zelenskyy-Trump talks
ADVERTISEMENT Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to arrive in Brussels where he will meet with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The pair will then together participate in the virtual meeting of the Coalition of the Willing, with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. In a post on X, von der Leyen says she will then join Zelenskyy at the White House on Monday to participate in his meeting with US President Donald Trump, at Zelenskyy's request. The Commission president noted that other European leaders will also join the meeting, but it's not clear as of yet whether they will be travelling to Washington or joining virtually. Berlin says Merz will also be travelling to the US capital on Monday to join the talks. "The trip will serve as an exchange of information with US President Donald Trump following his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska," said the chancellor's spokesperson. The Elysee have also confirmed Macron's attendance in Monday's talks. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is also believed to be attending. Italian media say Meloni has cut short her holiday and returned to Rome on Sunday to prepare to travel to the United States. Our journalists are working on this story and will update it as soon as more information becomes available.
Euronews
8 hours ago
- Euronews
Europe's power grids under pressure amid record-breaking heatwaves
ADVERTISEMENT This summer, Europe has again been gripped by a series of intense and widespread heatwaves. This week alone, temperature records have been broken across south-west France, Croatia and Hungary, with some regions enduring highs of over 40°C. As climate change makes heatwaves more frequent and more intense, demand for energy is soaring as people attempt to keep cool. At the same time, high temperatures are undermining electricity supplies, particularly from thermal plants - a type of power station in which heat energy is converted into electricity - that rely on river water for cooling. Experts warn that heatwaves are putting the continent's power grid under severe stress. They say energy systems urgently need to adapt, increasing flexibility and transitioning to renewable energy to avoid planet-warming fossil fuels. Governments also face the challenge of coping with heatwaves without blackouts or increasing planet-warming emissions. Energy consumption increases as people try to keep cool Recent heatwaves are a 'stark reminder' that Europe's power system needs to be prepared for increasingly extreme temperatures, according to energy think tank Ember's Europe policy director, Pawel Czyak. 'Europe's power systems are once again being tested by record-breaking temperatures.' Czyak adds that the think tank's analysis of the July heatwave showed how soaring demand from cooling pushed electricity demand to summer peaks. In Spain, electricity use jumped by around 14 per cent. Germany and France saw demand spike during peak hours, putting power operators on high alert. High summer temperatures are rapidly becoming the norm, and as they do, air conditioning systems are becoming an increasingly common sight. The number of room air conditioners in the EU is predicted to rise from less than 7 million in 1990 to more than 100 million in 2030. Despite this dramatic increase, air conditioning still only makes up around 0.6 per cent of household energy use in Europe Data shows that Italy is by far the EU's biggest user of air conditioning. It accounts for one-third of all electricity consumed by air conditioning across the 27 member states, despite having some of the highest electricity prices in Europe. In second place is Greece, followed by France, Spain and Germany. Pressure on power plants as temperatures rise Heatwaves don't just increase demand for electricity; they can also reduce power production from some forms of energy. Several European countries have had to repeatedly reduce electricity production or shut down nuclear reactors due to extreme heat this summer. During the heatwave between 28 June and 2 July, 17 out of France's 18 nuclear power plants in the country faced capacity reductions, with some shut down completely. The latest heatwave saw multiple warnings of power reductions, particularly on the Rhône river in the east and on the Garonne in the west of the country. Around three-quarters of the country's mainland faced heat alerts on Wednesday, and temperature records were broken in the southwest. So why is extreme heat a problem for nuclear power stations? To cool down reactors, water is pumped in from local rivers or the sea. It is then released back out at a higher temperature. But heatwaves mean the water being pumped in is already hot to begin with. It impacts the plant's ability to use it to cool down, and if the water that's released is too hot, it can threaten local biodiversity. Built for milder, more predictable climates, Europe's grid itself also struggles in extreme heat. In early July, blackouts hit parts of Rome, Florence, Bergamo and Milan as Italy's ageing infrastructure was pushed to its limits by the weather. The strain to balance the system due to a surge in electricity demand from cooling systems was partly to blame. But energy provider Enel said that underground cables had also expanded and overheated. In high temperatures, the underground cables struggle to dissipate heat. Without efforts to upgrade the grid and make it more resilient to extreme weather, the direct stress test of increasing heatwaves could lead to more blackouts like those seen in Italy. Can renewables help electricity grids adapt? While sunny conditions bring heat, they can also bring more electricity generation. June 2025 saw the highest monthly EU solar electricity production on record, amounting to more than 40 per cent of generation in the Netherlands and 35 per cent in Greece. The solar boost kept the electricity grid well supplied during daylight hours. It was most abundant at midday when there was the greatest demand from air conditioning, helping to ease the strain on the grid and prevent blackouts. 'Thermal plants saw outages, driven by cooling challenges in nuclear facilities, whereas strong solar performance helped stabilise strained grids,' says Czyzak. 'Investing in flexible, renewable-powered grids will help the power system be resilient and keep costs low.' Elsewhere, July heatwaves caused wind power outputs to crash. During an unprecedented spate of high temperatures, Finland saw wind power production plummet, with generation among the weakest on record. The country turned to hydropower, but this alone was not enough to cover the production gap. Wind turbines almost ground to a halt in the UK this week as the heatwave brought calm conditions. Wind accounted for only 5 per cent of the energy mix on Wednesday, with gas jumping to more than a third, according to data from the National Energy System Operator. These extremes underline solar's growing role in heatwave resilience, but they also show that renewables alone are no silver bullet unless supported by storage and smarter grids.
