The Navy is set to acquire 40 more Ocius Bluebottle uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), making a total 55 and giving Australia one of the world’s largest fleets of uncrewed naval vessels.
Under a deal announced today, the government will invest $126 million over five years to expand the Bluebottle fleet.
Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said Bluebottle was a formidable asset, designed to deliver intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance over Australia’s vast oceans areas of interest.
Since July 2024, Ocius has operated its Bluebottle vessels 24/7 from a facility on base at HMAS Coonawarra in Darwin supporting Operation Resolute.
“We are also exploring the potential for them to deploy drones and to have armed packages to provide kinetic solutions,” he told reporters in Canberra.
“The beauty of this asset is that it can be launched from a boat ramp. Any boat ramp in the north of Australia could be a potential launching pad for these Bluebottles.
“And this is Aussie innovation in action. This is a product that is built in Sydney. This will add 50 jobs to Ocius bringing their workforce up to 200. It will add jobs throughout Australia.”
Minister Conroy said sighting a bluebottle jellyfish at the beach was a warning to get out of the water.
“I want potential adversaries to realise when they see one of these, it’s a signal to get out of our ocean,” he said.
The Navy has developed a good understanding of Bluebottle capabilities.
Bluebottle is a seven-metre wind, wave and solar powered long endurance USV, able to conduct discrete ocean surveillance, gather oceanographic data and even sense for submarines. Each can remain on station for extended periods.
Chief of Navy Vice Admiral Mark Hammond said this was another significant step in the Navy’s transition from a force of crewed platforms to a hybrid force of crewed and uncrewed platforms
He said watching over Australia’s vast exclusive economic zone – 538 square kilometres for every member of the Navy - was a significant surveillance challenge.
“The addition of 40 more ISR platforms that can work in concert with our patrol boat force, with our maritime patrol aircraft and with our exquisite crewed platforms gives us significant advantage,” he said.
“It is also very durable. These things have remained on station as cyclones have rolled through and remained operational.
“This does represent the culmination point of a significant amount of testing and trials. We are not done with testing. There is more potential in this platform which we will explore in the future.”
Ocius chief executive Robert Dane said this was one of the largest acquisition contracts for this type of USV in the world.
“It marks a significant transition from Navy’s testing and evaluating of this equipment though to actually investing in the capability and procurement,” he said.
Dane said Bluebottle could stay at sea for months at a time. Its silence made it ideal for acoustic surveillance.
“These Bluebottles acting in concert with other crewed and uncrewed assets can give information to captain and admirals that they wouldn’t otherwise have,” he said.
“Twenty-eight years ago we won a solar boat race out there on Lake Burley Griffin. Since then we have built a company which currently has 140 people …and we are selling these to New Zealand and the USA.”
“This has been a 10-year collaboration with the Australian Navy to take a good idea and bring it up to being a good defence capability.”
With a load capacity of up to 300 kilograms, Bluebottle can carry a diverse range of payloads.
The Minister said one was a thin line towed array sonar, able to sense above and below the surface. Vice Admiral Hammond said a number of different payloads were under development.
“We have done concept demonstrators though for teaming with uncrewed air vehicles to extend the horizon from an ISR perspective,” he said.