Partnerships | Ultra Maritime | Maritime Defense Systems

Ultra Maritime and General Atomics Announce Strategic Partnership to Revolutionize Unmanned Airborne Anti-Submarine Warfare

Posted on May 20, 2025February 24, 2026 by Heather Shoup

COLUMBIA CITY, Indiana – General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) and Ultra Maritime are proud to announce a strategic partnership to substantially advance the state of the art in unmanned airborne detection and tracking of enemy submarines. By combining the world’s most advanced and prolific unmanned aerial system (UAS), GA-ASI’s MQ-9B SeaGuardian^®, with the world’s only miniaturized, low power sonobuoys and receivers, the strategic partnership will make it possible for the U.S. and its allies to use sophisticated techniques to track submarines in hostile, GPS-denied environments.

As adversary submarines proliferate and become stealthier, unmanned underwater vehicles grow in number and GPS jamming becomes more prevalent, the need for assured and affordable anti-submarine warfare (ASW) solutions is more critical than ever. While unmanned technologies are the clear best solution to this challenge, limitations to date in suitable ASW technologies have prevented real world solutions from emerging. This strategic partnership will provide a significant new capability where small form factor sonobuoys and receivers, aboard a long-range unmanned aircraft, can provide autonomous, low cost ASW in a GPS-denied environment.

The GA-ASI MQ-9B SeaGuardian provides unmatched multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting (ISR&T). GA-ASI will integrate the MQ-9B SeaGuardian with Ultra Maritime’s exclusive small form factor (half size) sonobuoys to double UAS capacity. These sonobuoys will provide Multi-static Active (MSA) capabilities achieving unprecedented wide-area search. Furthermore, Ultra Maritime’s new acoustic receivers will be half the traditional size, making them ideal for UAS deployment. The receivers will enable more effective ASW in GPS-denied environments and will monitor more sonobuoys per MQ-9B mission through advanced communications technology. The solution is fully funded by internal research and development, and an integrated operational demonstration of this capability will occur in the Indo Pacific and other theaters beginning in 2025.

Anduril and Ultra Maritime Announce Exclusive Partnership on Groundbreaking Autonomous Ocean Sensing Capability

Posted on April 7, 2025February 25, 2026 by Heather Shoup

BRAINTREE, Massachusetts – Anduril Industries and Ultra Maritime are proud to announce an exclusive partnership to develop a significant new capability in next generation unmanned subsea sensing, making it possible for U.S. and allied nations to enhance their submarine detection capabilities rapidly and inexpensively. By bringing together Ultra Maritime’s innovative Sea Spear deployable acoustic arrays and AI enabled acoustic processing with Anduril’s undersea autonomy capabilities, including Dive XL and Seabed Sentry, plus Anduril’s Lattice communications framework, the partnership will provide a major advance in distributed, low-cost undersea surveillance.

As enemy submarines grow quieter and greater in number, the need for low-cost solutions to submarine detection grows. Autonomous systems provide a clear path to low-cost, low-risk anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capability, but have to date been hampered by inadequate technology. Issues of range, endurance, sensitivity, communication, scale and more have limited advances in autonomous or uncrewed ASW. Anduril and Ultra Maritime have developed an innovative approach to make autonomous undersea ASW possible.

The concept uses Anduril’s Dive XL to autonomously deliver and deploy Anduril’s Seabed Sentry modular undersea payload system, which in turn hosts Ultra Maritime’s Sea Spear lightweight sensing array as a payload. Once deployed, Sea Spear pushes Sonar processing to the tactical edge using modern AI techniques. The system then uses acoustic communications and Anduril’s Lattice framework to provide users real time, autonomous submarine sensing. Multiple systems can be deployed in a distributed manner, enabling a user to see detects distributed across large ocean areas. The joint effort is well underway and achieves end to end in-water testing in 2025.

Ultra Maritime Collaborates with University of Liverpool to Develop Artificial Intelligence for Passive Sonar

Posted on March 6, 2025February 27, 2026 by Heather Shoup

London, U.K. – Ultra Maritime is pleased to announce a collaboration with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Distributed Algorithms at the University of Liverpool, a UK Research and Innovation funded programme. The research focuses on using machine learning to improve the tracking and detection of vessels using passive sonar, targeted at Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) and Torpedo Defence applications.

The initial work has shown promising results in improving the detection performance compared to traditional processing techniques, allowing Operators and Automatic Classifiers to extract signals from further into the noise as well as improving tracking performance.

“We are very excited to further develop our relationship with the University of Liverpool, who are recognized leaders in Autonomy and Distributed Algorithms,” said Andrew Anderson, Ultra Maritime Chief Technology Officer. “AI/ML technologies will provide disruptive benefits to many aspects of the ASW mission, and we are looking forward to rapidly transitioning this exciting research into Ultra Maritime’s portfolio of ASW and Torpedo Defense systems.”

Professor Simon Maskell, Director of the CDT at the University of Liverpool, commented: “The CDT seeks to train students to become future leaders with a valuable combination of skills that is otherwise hard to find in a single person. Indeed, we aim to help those students acquire a synergistic understanding of both next-generation AI/ML and future computing together with a well-honed ability to solve pressing real-world problems. It is a real pleasure to see one of those students capitalizing on the training environment provided by the CDT to work closely in partnership with Ultra Maritime to make a difference in this important context.”

Ultra Maritime prides itself on investing in the future of undersea warfare solutions for allied navies worldwide. This collaboration continues to build on those investments, providing next-generation, technologically advanced AI/ML solutions for maritime domain dominance.

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan Announces First-of-Its-Kind Partnership between Ultra Maritime and Bharat Dynamics Limited on the Co-Production of U.S. Sonobuoys

Posted on January 7, 2025February 27, 2026 by Heather Shoup

COLUMBIA CITY, Ind. – During a visit to Delhi, India, on Jan. 6, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan shared news that the White House is “welcoming a new initiative between Ultra Maritime and Bharat Dynamics Limited that will enhance undersea domain awareness through a first-of-its-kind partnership on the co-production of U.S. sonobuoys.”

Ultra Maritime, a U.S.-based world-leader in the design and production of undersea warfare capabilities, has partnered with Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), an Indian Defence Public Sector Undertaking, to supply and manufacture sonobuoys for the Indian Navy to U.S. Navy standards, with production split across the U.S. and India, in accordance with “Make in India” principles.

In line with the U.S.-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies (ICET) launched in May 2022, the Ultra Maritime and BDL teams will also pursue new sonobuoy technologies to optimize their acoustic performance in the unique environment of the Indian Ocean, enabling wide area search through bespoke multi-static active solutions.

“The announcement today by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan reflects Ultra Maritime’s commitment to the Indian Navy in partnering with Bharat Dynamics Limited for production and delivery of world-class sonobuoys, and our resolute commitment to continue to develop forward leaning solutions to unique undersea challenges,” said Ultra Maritime CEO Carlo Zaffanella.

“Bharat Dynamics Limited is completely aligned with the Indian Navy to meet the operational demand for Make in India sonobuoys and is committed to standing up joint production with Ultra Maritime in Vishakhapatnam,” added Chairman of BDL Commodore (ret) A. Madhavarao. “This initiative highlights the strategic importance of U.S.-Indian defense industry cooperation and our ability to jointly move forward with urgency to enhance global security.”

“Having experienced the Indian Navy’s Anti-Submarine Warfare prowess firsthand during Indian Malabar naval exercises in the past, it is an honor today to support both the U.S. Navy and Indian Navy in maintaining Undersea Domian Awareness in the Indian Ocean theater through the Make in India sonobuoy initiative,” said Rear Admiral USN (ret) Mark Kenny, Ultra Maritime Senior Vice President for Strategy and Business Development. “The Ultra Maritime sonobuoys co-produced in India are interchangeable and interoperable between U.S. Navy, Indian Navy and allied P-8, MH-60R and the MQ-9B Sea Guardian aircraft.”