Latest news with #SG-1Fathom
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A European defense startup is making drone submarines that can lurk underwater for 3 months at a time
German defense tech startup Helsing is working on a fleet of AI-equipped underwater sea drones. It said they can operate for three-month stretches, with hundreds controlled by a single operator. The news comes as NATO seeks to shore up the defense of vital subsea cable infrastructure. German military tech startup Helsing said it is readying a fleet of undersea drones amid intensifying threats to subsea cables, and said they'd be ready to deploy in around a year. The uncrewed submarine, the SG-1 Fathom, would be able to patrol and stay underwater for up to three months at a time, it said. In a statement Tuesday, the company said that its AI Lura software detects subsea threats and can identify ship and submarine models from their underwater sound patterns. It claimed the software operates 40x faster than human operators, and is 10x quieter than other models, meaning it's better able to evade detection. "We must harness new technologies to keep pace with the threats against our critical infrastructure, national waters, and way of life," said Gundbert Scherf, cofounder and co-CEO of Helsing. Hundreds of the drones could be deployed at the same time, controlled by a single operator, the company said, monitoring undersea regions for threats and relaying live data. Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC, told BI that underwater drones such as the ones being developed by Helsing "would be effective at monitoring underwater infrastructure." He added that each drone's detection range is "quite short," but that the system is designed to manage dozens or even hundreds at a time. Clark also said that underwater drones could be vulnerable to electronic jamming, which could impact their navigation systems and cause them to get "lost." Helsing's announcement comes amid intensifying threats to networks of subsea cables crucial for carrying internet data. European officials blamed Russia for a series of subsea cable severances in the Baltic late last year and in January, which some said was part of the Kremlin's "hybrid warfare" campaign. In September, Business Insider reported that a specialist Russian submarine sabotage unit had been surveilling subsea cables. NATO has formed its own special unit to better defend critical underwater infrastructure, and has also said it's developing new satellite technology so that data can be rerouted in the event of a massive disruption. European militaries are also testing and deploying sea drones as part of their bid to increase undersea monitoring and shore up defenses. The UK's military, as part of its Project Cabot, is testing new drone and AI technology to monitor underwater infrastructure, and is working with Helsing on the project, The Times of London reported Tuesday. Helsing has already produced AI systems and aerial drone systems for European militaries, and was valued at $5.4 billion during a funding round last year. It said it had developed the sea drones following interest from several navies, and had tested them at a naval base in the south of England. "Deploying AI to the edge of underwater constellations will illuminate the oceans and deter our adversaries, for a strong Europe," Helsing's Scherf said. Read the original article on Business Insider
Business Insider
15-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
A European defence startup is making drone submarines that can lurk underwater for 3 months at a time
German military tech startup Helsing said it is readying a fleet of undersea drones amid intensifying threats to subsea cables, and said they'd be ready to deploy in around a year. The uncrewed submarine, the SG-1 Fathom, would be able to patrol and stay underwater for up to three months at a time, it said. In a statement Tuesday, the company said that its AI Lura software detects subsea threats and can identify ship and submarine models from their underwater sound patterns. It claimed the software operates 40x faster than human operators, and is 10x quieter than other models, meaning it's better able to evade detection. "We must harness new technologies to keep pace with the threats against our critical infrastructure, national waters, and way of life," said Gundbert Scherf, cofounder and co-CEO of Helsing. Hundreds of the drones could be deployed at the same time, controlled by a single operator, the company said, monitoring undersea regions for threats and relaying live data. Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC, told BI that underwater drones such as the ones being developed by Helsing "would be effective at monitoring underwater infrastructure." He added that each drone's detection range is "quite short," but that the system is designed to manage dozens or even hundreds at a time. Clark also said that underwater drones could be vulnerable to electronic jamming, which could impact their navigation systems and cause them to get "lost." Helsing's announcement comes amid intensifying threats to networks of subsea cables crucial for carrying internet data. European officials blamed Russia for a series of subsea cable severances in the Baltic late last year and in January, which some said was part of the Kremlin's "hybrid warfare" campaign. In September, Business Insider reported that a specialist Russian submarine sabotage unit had been surveilling subsea cables. NATO has formed its own special unit to better defend critical underwater infrastructure, and has also said it's developing new satellite technology so that data can be rerouted in the event of a massive disruption. European militaries are also testing and deploying sea drones as part of their bid to increase undersea monitoring and shore up defenses. The UK's military, as part of its Project Cabot, is testing new drone and AI technology to monitor underwater infrastructure, and is working with Helsing on the project, The Times of London reported Tuesday. Helsing has already produced AI systems and aerial drone systems for European militaries, and was valued at $5.4 billion during a funding round last year. It said it had developed the sea drones following interest from several navies, and had tested them at a naval base in the south of England. "Deploying AI to the edge of underwater constellations will illuminate the oceans and deter our adversaries, for a strong Europe," Helsing's Scherf said.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
AI company Helsing unveils swarming underwater surveillance drones
MILAN — Germany-based Helsing has launched an underwater drone surveillance network powered by artificial intelligence for the detection of enemy submarines and ships out at sea for months at a time. The company's artificial-intelligence tool Lura is at the heart of the setup, processing data from SG-1 Fathom drones, Helsing said in a statement. By relying on a large-scale acoustic model, Lura is able to detect and categorize a variety of undersea threats based on the signature they emit, including submarines and different types of ships, at a high accuracy, according to the company. 'Lura's use of this model enables it to detect acoustic signatures 10 times quieter than other AI models, even differentiating between specific vessels from within the same class, at a speed up to 40 times faster than humans,' reads the Helsing statement. Many nations with advanced militaries collect intelligence about adversary ships, from the acoustic noise emitted by their propulsion systems to the characteristics of the wake form and water bubble generated by them. Analysts can then cross-check that data to identify threats at sea. According to Helsing, the Fathom drone is swarming-capable, which means hundreds can be deployed at a time patrolling an area's underwater environment for up to three months. The company demonstrated the setup last week Portsmouth Naval Base, England, as the company expects to deploy the capability within the year. Potential regions for deployment included the North and Baltic seas, where NATO is currently carrying out its Baltic Sentry mission focused on securing critical infrastructure at sea. The military alliance has also trialled an AI software tool, dubbed Mainsail, developed by the NATO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation in Italy, which flags suspicious vessels. It allows sifting through and analyzing enormous amounts of data such as maritime traffic to enable authorities to collect underwater intelligence or detect boats diverting off-course. 'Deploying AI to the edge of underwater constellations will illuminate the oceans and deter our adversaries for a strong Europe,' the co-founder and co-CEO of Helsing, Gundbert Scherf, said.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
German defence tech firm Helsing unveils new underwater drone
German defence company Helsing, which specializes in AI technology, has developed an underwater drone that can be deployed to protect ships and critical infrastructure, the Munich-based firm said on Tuesday. Dubbed SG-1 Fathom, the autonomous underwater glider is capable of patrolling "for up to three months at a time in search of underwater threats," Helsing said in a press release. The company also unveiled the Lura software platform and advanced AI system which deploys on the drone and is able to detect and classify sounds made by ships and submarines "with unprecedented sensitivity and accuracy" thanks to a large acoustic model similar to language models. "Lura's use of a large acoustic model enables it to detect acoustic signatures 10x quieter than other AI models, even differentiating between specific vessels from within the same class, and at a speed up to 40x faster than human operators," Helsing said. The company also makes the HX-2 kamikaze drone, which is used by Ukraine. "Lura detects [threats] so our navies can deter," said co-founder and co-chief executive Grundbert Scherf. "We must harness new technologies to keep pace with the threats against our critical infrastructure, national waters, and way of life. Deploying AI to the edge of underwater constellations will illuminate the oceans and deter our adversaries, for a strong Europe." Western countries have been looking for ways to protect pipelines and data cables on the seabed from sabotage, attacks and spying attempts for some time.
