Joint Venture to Expand Production of AUSVs for Military & Civilian Applications

Kraken Technology Group has formed NVL Kraken, a joint venture (JV) with NVL, to expand manufacturing capabilities for autonomous, uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) at NVL’s Blohm+Voss shipyard in Hamburg, Germany, complementing operations in the UK.

This collaboration brings together two specialized maritime companies to address the growing global demand for scalable, market-ready uncrewed platforms, catering to both military and civilian needs, such as the surveillance and protection of critical infrastructure.

The joint venture enables NVL to broaden its scope by offering complete solutions that combine crewed naval vessels with autonomous and configurable deployment systems. Kraken, in turn, will benefit from NVL’s advanced manufacturing and integration expertise.

The maritime collaboration combines NVL’s competencies in the new-build of complex naval vessels with Kraken’s experience in delivering high-performance, small, fast and robust uncrewed marine systems. This ensures comprehensive competencies required for innovations on smaller and larger uncrewed vessels.

Mal Crease, CEO of Kraken Technology Group, stated, “We are honoured to partner with NVL as we expand our ability to provide fully sovereign, autonomous maritime capabilities to our Allied nations. Working with NVL will allow exponential scaling of production and supply chain to meet growing threats through deployment of high-performance, multi-role, mass capabilities across our seas.

“NVL are unquestionably the gold standard of maritime production and being able to draw and develop from such expertise and repurpose it for use in smaller, uncrewed platforms will bring a vital and much-needed step-change to the European maritime defence industry.”

NVL has already invested in Kraken and has secured options to invest in a further round planned for Q4 2025. Both companies will invest in the roll-out of the JV structure, with manufacturing anticipated to begin by Q4 2025.

This JV supports the growing trend of manned-unmanned teaming in naval operations, enhancing collaboration between crewed and uncrewed systems.

Tim Wagner, CEO of NVL, commented, “The joint venture with Kraken offers us the opportunity to rapidly react to the latest requirements of our customers and to provide market-ready autonomous systems quickly and in high volumes.

“At the same time, by taking this step, we are expanding our role as a pioneer in the development of manned/unmanned teaming (MUM-T) concepts and are creating the right conditions for launching additional innovative solutions in this field. This also includes, for instance, our design concepts for the naval tender vessel NTV 130 as a drone mothership that could succeed the six tender vessels (the ELBE class) currently operated by the German Navy.”