Seasats receives investment from L3Harris Technologies
🎯 USA based USV developer Seasats announced today that it has accepted a strategic investment from L3Harris Technologies, a global aerospace and defense technology innovator. Under this new collaboration, Seasats’ autonomous ocean vehicles will pair with cutting-edge products from L3Harris to create innovative maritime solutions for customers across a range of government and commercial markets.
Since its incorporation in San Diego in 2020, Seasats has rapidly gained recognition in the autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) industry. The company’s uniquely cost-efficient, modular approach to technology has gained validation from maritime operators in commercial and defense industries and garnered backing from nationally renowned organizations like Techstars and Greentown Labs.
🎤 “When you take the network and organizational expertise that L3Harris has, and then add our unique platforms and fast-moving startup culture to the mix, you end up with really formidable capabilities,” says Seasats CEO Mike Flanigan. “The timing, too, couldn’t be better. Maritime autonomy has been maturing for a decade and rapid growth in offshore wind and aquaculture combine with a renewed push by the Navy to make a perfect springboard for scaling.”
L3Harris already provides defense customers with oceangoing solutions for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), mine countermeasures, electronic warfare, and maritime domain awareness. The market need for technological advancement in these sectors has become increasingly clear in recent months, with international events highlighting the Navy’s shift towards a future of the “small, agile, and many.”
🎤 “From the first visit with the Seasats team, I could tell they achieved a great evolution in maritime surface autonomy, and that it could be an ideal platform for a host of sensing and other mission solutions,” said Patrick O’Reilly, Vice President in Corporate Strategy and Development, L3Harris. “We are already collaborating on demonstrations for the Navy in the coming months, and are looking forward to helping Seasats accelerate production, deploy in new theaters, and advance technical capabilities through this partnership.”
Seasats vessels are highly reliable, solar-electric, low-profile and affordable. Their ability to handle both persistent open-ocean missions and precise near-shore missions with minimal logistics led to their tagline: “Launch in minutes – perform for months.”
Beginning in 2021, Seasats completed pilot missions with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography before fulfilling commercial contracts in hydrography and acoustic monitoring. Government contracts followed, providing a case study for how commercially developed products can accelerate and outperform traditional defense development cycles.
In August, Seasats received a grant from the National Science Foundation to study COLREG-compliant autonomous systems. In September, Seasats was awarded a contract to work with the Navy’s Task Force 59 developing maritime domain awareness and robotic and artificial intelligence maritime capabilities. Continued collaboration with L3Harris will support a bright future for ocean autonomy customers in defense, offshore wind, climate science, and other maritime industries.
📃📷 Source: Seasats