New AI Platform & Autonomous Underwater Glider Unveiled for Maritime Surveillance

Helsing is unveiling its Lura software platform and SG-1 Fathom autonomous underwater glider, designed for underwater surveillance and autonomous maritime defense.

Built on Helsing’s experience in the air and land domains, Lura is a software platform and advanced AI system developed from first principles to rethink maritime surveillance. The system uses autonomous mass that is sovereign, scalable, and affordable to detect threats in the subsurface domain.

Based on a large acoustic model—similar to large language models—Lura is able to classify and localize acoustic signatures (the sounds made by ships and submarines) with high sensitivity and accuracy.

Lura’s use of a large acoustic model enables it to detect acoustic signatures ten times quieter than those detectable by typical AI models, even differentiating between specific vessels within the same class, and doing so at speeds up to forty times faster than human operators.

SG-1 Fathom

Lura deploys on SG-1 Fathom, a new autonomous underwater glider that can patrol for up to three months at a time in search of underwater threats. The gliders are robust and discreet, designed for underwater surveillance as they steadily move through the water column, monitoring the breadth and depth of the oceans.

Hundreds of SG-1 Fathoms can be deployed for each mission, operating with Lura on the edge to autonomously detect, classify, and report threats at scale and in near real time. The combined system creates a constellation of mobile sensors across any body of water—equivalent to satellites in the skies—digitalizing the oceans and redefining maritime surveillance.

A single operator can task and monitor hundreds of gliders from a maritime headquarters, receiving accurate intelligence at 10% of the cost of crewed Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) patrols.

Lura and SG-1 Fathom can be rapidly deployed—as a contracted service or operated by navies themselves—in any areas of strategic importance, from the North Sea and Baltic to the deep oceans of the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific.

Helsing designed Lura and SG-1 in response to interest from several navies in adaptable and scalable underwater surveillance. The capabilities were recently demonstrated at HM Naval Base Portsmouth for a select audience of users and industry partners. Helsing is partnering with Blue Ocean Marine Tech Systems, Ocean Infinity, and Qinetiq to scale and deliver Lura and SG-1 to customers. The company plans to deploy the system within the year.

Dr Gundbert Scherf, Co-founder and Co-CEO, Helsing, commented, “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.”

Amelia Gould, General Manager, Helsing Maritime, stated, “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.”