Ocius Technology has signed agreements to integrate advanced sonar systems from ThayerMahan and Thales Australia across its growing fleet of Australian-made Bluebottle uncrewed surface vessels (USVs).
“The Ocius Bluebottle is a formidable asset. It's already providing near persistent, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for Australia, having even remained on station as cyclones rolled through. And now, thanks to this new partnership, this capability will provide enhanced protection of Australia’s vast maritime domain," Minister for Defence Industry, Pat Conroy, said.
“This is Aussie innovation in action. Just as when you see a blue bottle on a beach, or in the water, it’s a signal to stay away. I want potential adversaries to realise when they see an Ocius Bluebottle, it's also a signal to get out of our ocean.”
The sonar systems include fully retractable thin-line acoustic arrays (TLAs) which will be deployed to support persistent surface and subsurface intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) as part of the Royal Australian Navy's (RAN’s) recent $176 million Program of Record, as well as Ocius' ongoing 24/7 operations to the north of Australia for Maritime Border Command.
“In an increasingly contested global environment, Australia requires advanced and proven technologies to address evolving maritime threats," Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ocius Technology, Robert Dane, said.
“Different missions need different solutions. The Bluebottle is designed as an adaptable payload delivery platform. By integrating complementary acoustic systems from leading Australian and United States technology providers, we can provide customers with the most effective technology suite for their operational needs. These agreements reflect the strength of the systems developed by ThayerMahan and Thales for persistent uncrewed maritime operations."
Under the RAN’s Sea 1200 program to combat undersea threats, Ocius has awarded ThayerMahan, a contract to deliver 40 Outpost acoustic intelligence payloads with TransparenSea processing software.
“ThayerMahan is proud to be a longstanding technology partner with Ocius, and proud of the advances in next-generation maritime awareness that we have achieved together with our proven autonomous technologies. This contract represents the latest significant advancement in undersea warfare surveillance capability," ThayerMahan, Chief Executive Officer, Mike Connor, said.
"Our advanced Outpost acoustic intelligence payloads and TransparenSea software will provide the Royal Australian Navy with sensing, processing, and data dissemination technologies that integrate with the Bluebottle uncrewed surface vessel to deliver a highly effective autonomous undersea sensing platform."
ThayerMahan’s Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW)-capable sensing payloads and processing software will deploy in a distributed surveillance architecture that will detect, localise and track contacts of interest, delivering data to operators and commanders.
The collaboration demonstrates a practical application of AUKUS Pillar II, combining Australian autonomous maritime technology with advanced United States acoustic sensing and processing capabilities.
To support ongoing Australian Maritime Border Command operations to the north of Australia, Ocius has selected Thales Australia’s Australian-manufactured BlueSentry thin line arrays and BlueSentry acoustic processing for integration onto Bluebottles USVs.
“Thales Australia’s high-quality sensors at the core of the powerful BlueSentry arrays are made by our dedicated workforce in our facility in Sydney. These sovereign arrays, deployed on the sovereign Ocius Bluebottle platform will play a key role helping secure our nation and provide a persistent and adaptable surveillance capability," Thales Australia, Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Connolly, said.
“BlueSentry’s heritage is from our systems deployed on the Collins-class submarines, and our enduring commitment to working with defence and our industry partners to innovate to serve the national interest.
“We look forward to working with Ocius to further strengthen Australia’s sovereign maritime surveillance capability.”
These operational array systems will be deployed across the Bluebottle fleet, supporting long-endurance maritime surveillance.
Bluebottle’s payload-agnostic keel, winch and payload bay architecture enables acoustic array systems from different providers to be selected and configured to meet each customer’s specific mission requirements, according to Ocius.
Bluebottles are manufactured and equipped with acoustic arrays at Ocius’s production facility in Sydney, Australia.