- German defense tech startup Helsing is working on a fleet of AI-equipped underwater sea drones.
- It said they can operate for three-month stretches, with hundreds controlled by a single operator.
- The news comes as NATO seeks to shore up the defense of vital subsea cable infrastructure.
German military tech startup Helsing said it is readying a fleet of undersea drones amid intensifying threats to subsea cables, and said they'd be ready to deploy in around a year.
The uncrewed submarine, the SG-1 Fathom, would be able to patrol and stay underwater for up to three months at a time, it said.
In a statement Tuesday, the company said that its AI Lura software detects subsea threats and can identify ship and submarine models from their underwater sound patterns.
It claimed the software operates 40x faster than human operators, and is 10x quieter than other models, meaning it's better able to evade detection.
"We must harness new technologies to keep pace with the threats against our critical infrastructure, national waters, and way of life," said Gundbert Scherf, cofounder and co-CEO of Helsing.
Hundreds of the drones could be deployed at the same time, controlled by a single operator, the company said, monitoring undersea regions for threats and relaying live data.
Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC, told BI that underwater drones such as the ones being developed by Helsing "would be effective at monitoring underwater infrastructure."
He added that each drone's detection range is "quite short," but that the system is designed to manage dozens or even hundreds at a time.
Clark also said that underwater drones could be vulnerable to electronic jamming, which could impact their navigation systems and cause them to get "lost."
Helsing's announcement comes amid intensifying threats to networks of subsea cables crucial for carrying internet data.
European officials blamed Russia for a series of subsea cable severances in the Baltic late last year and in January, which some said was part of the Kremlin's "hybrid warfare" campaign.
In September, Business Insider reported that a specialist Russian submarine sabotage unit had been surveilling subsea cables.
NATO has formed its own special unit to better defend critical underwater infrastructure, and has also said it's developing new satellite technology so that data can be rerouted in the event of a massive disruption.
European militaries are also testing and deploying sea drones as part of their bid to increase undersea monitoring and shore up defenses.
The UK's military, as part of its Project Cabot, is testing new drone and AI technology to monitor underwater infrastructure, and is working with Helsing on the project, The Times of London reported Tuesday.
Helsing has already produced AI systems and aerial drone systems for European militaries, and was valued at $5.4 billion during a funding round last year.
It said it had developed the sea drones following interest from several navies, and had tested them at a naval base in the south of England.
"Deploying AI to the edge of underwater constellations will illuminate the oceans and deter our adversaries, for a strong Europe," Helsing's Scherf said.
