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Western Australia-based national security and defence technology firm Overwatch Technologies will begin trading on 16 October, under the ticker OWL, after being admitted to the ASX Official List.
Overwatch will reportedly focus on data fusion, analysis and intelligence gathering with further sights set on possible autonomous aerial, land, surface and subsea platforms.
“We’re trying to give operators a coherent intelligence picture, not a collection of disconnected feeds. Our initial focus is detecting, mapping and tracking radio-frequency emissions, with our software bringing sensor observations together. A practical example is a vessel that stops broadcasting its identity but continues emitting signals from other onboard equipment. Those emissions provide another way to detect and understand activity at sea,” Overwatch Technologies co-founder and managing director Oscar Leslie said. The co-founder previously advised government agencies and universities on technology development and commercialisation, as well as working with investors and early-stage defence technology companies.
“The maritime-surveillance-as-a-service model we’re developing would give governments access to real-time data and analysis without owning the hardware. That is particularly relevant where workforce, sustainment or infrastructure constraints make establishing an in-house capability difficult.
“The aim is to meet the surveillance requirement, rather than simply supply another platform.”
The company also confirmed they would provide an intelligence solution, rather than another drone in an increasingly crowded autonomous-platform market.
“We start with the intelligence problem, not a particular drone. Being platform-agnostic means we can select technology around the customer’s mission, rather than fit the mission around our hardware,” Leslie said.
“We’re deliberately capital-light, licensing, procuring or developing the right solution instead of trying to manufacture everything ourselves.
“Our differentiation is in the sensing, software and integration, alongside the Australian intellectual property we’re developing in sensors, autonomy and complementary maritime platforms.
“Commercially, our focus is hardware and support first, while working towards managed surveillance and, over time, data products. We’re building a maritime intelligence business, not betting the company on one platform.”
Data analysis and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance is at a critical crossroads for Australia. Overwatch will reportedly attempt to cover that demand for Australia and it’s Indo-Pacific neighbours.
“In warfare, collecting information is only useful if you can turn it into understanding quickly enough to act. For Australia and our Indo-Pacific neighbours, the challenge is doing that across enormous maritime areas with limited resources. That makes persistent surveillance and timely analysis essential to understanding where attention and assets are needed,” Leslie said.
“That requirement exists well before conflict. It matters every day in border protection, countering illegal fishing and search and rescue, including where conventional infrastructure is unavailable or degraded. Our focus is closing those surveillance gaps and turning what we collect into intelligence people can actually use.”
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