C2 Robotics and Thales Australia have announced a partnership to integrate Thales’ sovereign sensor technology into the Australian-made C2 Robotics Speartooth Large Uncrewed Underwater Vehicle (LUUV).
Thales Australia’s locally designed and developed sonar sensors and processing will enhance Speartooth’s ability to navigate autonomously at long range with higher levels of safety, reliability and precision. This will enhance customers’ trust in Speartooth and increase the range of missions it can perform.
Thales’ extensive industrial footprint, coupled with its sovereign technology experse, will enable its sonar solutions to be scaled appropriately for performance and cost when integrated into the Speartooth LUUV. This will allow C2 Robotics to achieve its goal of delivering an affordable, long-range platforms that can be produced at scale in Australia.
“Collaborating with Thales, whose proficiency in sonar and acoustic payloads is world renowned, has the potential to accelerate Speartooth’s capabilities and footprint on an AUKUS stage. Most importantly, all of the sensors and electronics that will be integrated with Speartooth under this agreement are designed and produced locally at Thales’ Acoustics Centre of Excellence, Rydalmere, Sydney. This aligns with C2 Robotics’ approach of ensuring supply chain resilience and generating mass based on Australian industry.” Dr Tom Loveard, Chief Technology Officer, C2 Robotics
“This exciting partnership represents a significant opportunity to develop Australia’s sovereign autonomous maritime capability by leveraging the expertise of an innovative Australian SME. C2 Robotics have been collaborating with Navy for several years on Speartooth and in that time they have demonstrated the maturity of the vessel. We are very pleased to be able to support C2 Robotics’ focus on manufacturing scalability and their speed to capability ethos.” Troy Stephen, Vice President Underwater Systems, Thales Australia and New Zealand.
“The Royal Australian Navy is very supportive of this partnership. It’s a great example of Australian Defence Industry collaborating to advance our maritime uncrewed systems” Commodore Michael Turner, RAN, Director General Maritime Integrated Systems.
Good that C2 Robotics Speartooth LUUV is in competition with or providing a Plan B if Anduril’s GHOST SHARK is found deficient for Australia.
These UUVs are part of AUKUS Pillar 2 – not often acknowledged. More see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AUKUS#Undersea_Capabilities
UUVs may also interact with fixed seafloor and tethered sensors which probably surround Australia.
I agree. I’m hoping to have a bit more to say about Speartooth in the near future.