NVL teams up with Kraken for uncrewed maritime capabilities

NVL announced it has created a joint venture with Kraken to meet the globally growing demand for market-ready, scalable, uncrewed platforms of various sizes for both military and civilian applications such as the surveillance and protection of critical infrastructure. The Anglo-German joint venture intends to rapidly scale up manufacturing capacities for autonomous surface vessels at NVL’s shipyard Blohm+Voss in Hamburg, Germany on top of the already existing capacities in the UK to provide a range of products to the German and European market. Through this joint venture, NVL is expanding its capabilities as a leading German shipbuilding group and system integrator, specialising in the construction of complex naval vessels to include interaction between crewed naval vessels and autonomous uncrewed platforms. Kraken Technology Group specialises in the development of high-performance, low-cost, uncrewed maritime systems and will benefit from NVL’s comprehensive manufacturing and integration capabilities. NVL recently invested in Kraken Technology Group and has secured options to invest in a further round planned for Q4 2025. The current threat level requires innovative solutions which meet the tactical operational needs of the armed forces. In the future, naval operations will increasingly be conducted by manned-unmanned teaming, enhancing collaboration between crewed and uncrewed systems. Starting with smaller vessels, the JV offers the comprehensive competencies required for these kinds of solutions – including larger uncrewed vessels – by uniting NVL’s competencies in the new-build of complex naval vessels with Kraken’s experience in delivering small, fast and robust uncrewed systems. Manufacturing is anticipated to begin as soon as Q4 2025. “The joint venture with Kraken offers us the opportunity to rapidly react to the latest requirements of our customers and to provide market-ready autonomous systems quickly and in high volumes,” said Tim Wagner, CEO of NVL. “At the same time, by taking this step, we are expanding our role as a pioneer in the development of manned/unmanned teaming (MUM-T) concepts and are creating the right conditions for launching additional innovative solutions in this field. This also includes, for instance, our design concepts for the naval tender vessel NTV 130 as a drone mothership that could succeed the six tender vessels (the ELBE class) currently operated by the German Navy.” “We are honoured to partner with NVL as we expand our ability to provide fully sovereign, autonomous maritime capabilities to our Allied nations. Working with NVL will allow exponential scaling of production and supply chain to meet growing threats through deployment of high-performance, multi-role, mass capabilities across our seas,” said Mal Crease, CEO of Kraken Technology Group. “NVL are unquestionably the gold standard of maritime production and being able to draw and develop from such expertise and repurpose it for use in smaller, uncrewed platforms will bring a vital and much-needed step-change to the European maritime defence industry.” For Editorial Inquiries Contact: Editor Kym Bergmann at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Group Sales Director Simon Hadfield at [email protected]