Helsing acquires Blue Ocean, a specialist in autonomous underwater vehicles, to accelerate its Maritime Defence Programme  

Helsing, the leading European defence technology company, today announced it is in the process of acquiring Blue Ocean, an ocean technology company that designs, develops, and operates autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). The acquisition will integrate Blue Ocean’s hardware and manufacturing capabilities with Helsing’s Artificial Intelligence (AI), integrating Blue Ocean’s team and operations into Helsing, with operations continuing in the UK and Australia.

Together, Helsing and Blue Ocean will accelerate the development and mass production of autonomous platforms for the protection of the underwater battlespace, providing democratic allies with a crucial technological advantage in the maritime domain. By building sovereign capabilities together across Europe and Australia, we can defend ourselves especially in the North Atlantic and in the maritime regions of the AUKUS partners.

The strategic acquisition of Blue Ocean will speed up Helsing's plans for AI-powered autonomous systems further. It follows Helsing's launch of its autonomous underwater glider, the SG-1 Fathom, earlier in the year, and its successful testing at BUTEC, an underwater military test range, in July. Just four months ago, Helsing also announced it is building a new Resilience Factory in Plymouth as part of a £350m investment in the UK.

Amelia Gould, General Manager, Maritime at Helsing, said: "The need for a smart autonomous mass-approach is clear, and together with Blue Ocean we can build an autonomous glider that provides a big leap forward to conduct underwater ISR for navies.
Blue Ocean has been a key partner for us over the last 12 months and as we seek to significantly strengthen our maritime offer to Europe and AUKUS it makes sense for us to join forces. Together we can offer customers a unique blend of domain expertise, rapid innovation and advanced technology.”

Mike Deeks, Group Managing Director at Blue Ocean, said: “Since first meeting Helsing we have forged a strong working relationship bringing together our Autonomous Underwater Vehicle technology with Helsing’s impressive Edge AI processing to create a highly effective anti-submarine warfare and wide area surveillance capability. These are critical to compilation of the modern common operating picture and providing border and asset protection.”

The acquisition will occur by means of a members’ scheme of arrangement under Australian law and is subject to court, regulatory and shareholder approval.

Media Contacts

Lucy Noakes
lucy.noakes@helsing.ai
+447930357447