Maritime Robotics recently participated in the NATO-led REPMUS 2025 exercise in Portugal, using the event to demonstrate the capabilities of its unmanned surface vessels (USVs). The company engaged in the parallel Dynamic Messenger (DYMS) drills as well, leveraging an opportunity to showcase how sea drones can bolster naval operations across allied forces.
Hosted by the Portuguese Navy, REPMUS brought together navies, industry players, and academic institutions to experiment with and validate autonomous systems in realistic maritime settings. For Maritime Robotics, the exercise was a proving ground to show their systems’ operational value in surveillance, mapping, infrastructure monitoring, mine countermeasures, and anti-submarine support.
During the two-week event, the company’s sea drones were deployed in a variety of mission scenarios:
- Rapid Environmental Assessment (REA): Collecting high-resolution seabed and hydrographic data to support navigation and mission planning, especially in complex or uncharted waters.
- Infrastructure monitoring: Continuously surveying underwater cables, pipelines, and offshore structures to detect anomalies or threats
- Mine Countermeasures (MCM): Employing USVs to help locate and neutralize underwater ordnance, reducing risk to crewed vessels.
- Anti-submarine warfare (ASW): Using sea drones to tow acoustic sensors and extend detection ranges for underwater threats.
- ROV support: The Otter sea drone was used to deploy and manage a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) for subsea inspection (called “ROVEX”), illustrating how unmanned vessels can carry out intervention tasks without needing large manned ships.
Maritime Robotics’ Senior Sales Director for Defence & Security, Håvar Øie, asserted that uncrewed systems have moved beyond experimentation and are becoming essential tools for modern navies. He noted that demonstrations at REPMUS reveal how sea drones provide persistent surveillance, rapid response, and long-duration missions that conventional vessels struggle to maintain.
For NATO and Norway, the exercise underscored a shift toward more resilient and scalable maritime defense capabilities. For the company, it reinforced their role as a key provider of maritime autonomy technologies—able to support current operations and influence future naval doctrine.
Maritime Robotics emphasizes that its autonomous navigation systems and USVs (such as the Otter, Otter X, Mariner, and Mariner X) are designed to operate safely, remotely, and efficiently, with applications in seabed mapping, research, asset protection, and maritime surveillance.
