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European defence technology company Helsing has unveiled its latest maritime surveillance solution, combining a powerful artificial intelligence platform, Lura, with a new autonomous underwater glider, SG-1 Fathom.
The announcement marks a bold step forward in the digitalisation and defence of the world’s oceans, drawing on experience from air and land domains; Helsing developed Lura from the ground up to transform underwater threat detection.
The AI-powered software platform leverages a large acoustic model akin to large language models to identify and classify underwater acoustic signatures, such as those emitted by submarines and ships, with unprecedented precision.
According to Helsing, Lura can detect sounds 10 times quieter than other AI models and differentiate between individual vessels within the same class, with the system operating up to 40 times faster than human operators, offering a major leap in both speed and sensitivity.
Dr Gundbert Scherf, co-founder and co-CEO of Helsing, said, “Lura detects so our navies can deter. We must harness new technologies to keep pace with the threats against our critical infrastructure, national waters and way of life. Deploying AI to the edge of underwater constellations will illuminate the oceans and deter our adversaries, for a strong Europe.”
Lura is deployed on board the SG-1 Fathom, an autonomous glider capable of patrolling for up to three months underwater. These discreet and durable gliders can operate in swarms, creating mobile constellations of sensors across vast maritime regions functioning much like satellites do in space. Each unit monitors the water column, from surface to seabed, identifying threats in near real time.
Amelia Gould, general manager, Helsing Maritime, expanded on the comments made by Dr Scherf, saying, “To protect ourselves from increasing threats, especially underwater, we must do defence differently. The UK has a proud history of maritime innovation and must never stand still. At Helsing, we know how important it is to learn and adapt from each mission. Lura and SG-1 will form an ever-evolving mission cycle, learning from each deployment to iterate at the pace of the threat – a true 21st century defence capability.”
Operated remotely from a central maritime headquarters, a single user can control and receive intelligence from hundreds of Fathoms operating in a coordinated “swarm” manner, delivering results at a fraction of the cost of traditional crewed anti-submarine warfare patrols.
Designed in response to growing interest from NATO and allied navies, Lura and SG-1 were recently demonstrated at HM Naval Base Portsmouth. Helsing is partnering with Blue Ocean Marine Tech Systems, Ocean Infinity, and QinetiQ to scale the system, with deployments expected within the year.
