Sydney-based Ocius Technologies has ceremonially christened the first of two Bluebottle uncrewed surface vessels (USV) destined for the RNZN along with the 12th Bluebottle built for the RAN – the first of its class to be designated as a Navy-registered vessel.
At the same function on 26 November Ocius CEO Robert Dane announced the intended acquisition by US defence prime ThayerMahan of four Bluebottles additional to the two it purchased in May, and disclosed Ocius’ forthcoming move from Randwick to much larger premises in nearby Alexandria.
Commodore Shane Arndell, Maritime Component Commander of the New Zealand Defence Force, named the NZ vessel ‘Tahi’- Māori for ‘One’.
Commodore Mick Turner, Director-General of Maritime Integrated Capability branch, settled for ‘B712’ but emphasised the hard work and trust involved in obtaining Navy Registration – as put by Dane, “enabling this BlueBottle to be directed by Navy to do whatever they want it to do”.
The first RNZN Bluebottle will be delivered in January, the second in February, as will the RAN vessel. The RNZN acquisitions followed the six-month lease of a Bluebottle from Ocius, whose tasking Commodore Arndell told ADM had included tracking yachts travelling to New Zealand from the Pacific.
All three vessels are examples of the upgraded BlueBottle BETH 2.0 class, which at 7.4 metres are 6 per cent longer than previous Bluebottles with 30 per cent more righting movement, greater power, and an increase in payload from 150kg to 450kg. The logistical advantages of being launched from a standard boat ramp by an SUV and fitting into a 40ft shipping container have been maintained.
In another Ocius first, the hulls of both boats are painted grey instead of the usual BlueBottle blue - the RAN as befitting an RAN-registered vessel; the RNZN as a matter of course. The hard solar sail will also be grey, and the attached solar panels dark blue.
Dane said a number of Bluebottles had been operating out of Darwin 24/7 since July 2024 on contract to the RAN, rapidly increasing the 74,000 miles already logged by the class in total.
“This means that we’re accruing masses of data on payloads, on our AI, on machine learning and the way we sail and we’re evolving this capability in a raid and agile and iterative way,” he noted.
Seventeen Bluebottles had been produced from a mould that was only meant to build five, and with a new mould now in place at boat builder Van Munster Boats in Morisset, NSW, the intention was to build one hull per fortnight.
“To streamline production and meet increasing demand we’ve established a pre-production facility in Morisset near the builder so we can complete the new boats as fast as we can,” Dane said.
“Fitting out a boat with mechatronics, computers and communications takes us a week, and this new setup will facilitate fortnightly completion, and just-in-time deliveries to our primary facility in Sydney.”
As of late November Ocius personnel totalled 62; by February it will have increased to 80, Dane said.