Red Cat Holdings’ maritime division, Blue Ops, has partnered with Havoc to integrate collaborative autonomy and command-and-control capabilities across a range of Uncrewed Surface Vessels (USVs) for defense applications.
The planned integration will span multiple Blue Ops USVs, including the Variant 7 and additional platforms as they are introduced. By combining Blue Ops vessels with Havoc’s collaborative autonomy technology, the companies aim to enable coordinated multi-vessel operations while expanding the autonomous functions available to U.S. and allied defense customers.
The partnership builds on Blue Ops’ Modular Open Systems Architecture (MOSA) approach, which is designed to allow autonomy, sensors, communications, payloads, and other mission technologies to be integrated as operational requirements evolve. Havoc’s collaborative autonomy technology has previously been deployed on behalf of the U.S. Department of War in multiple operational contexts.
Barry Hinckley, President of Blue Ops, commented, “This partnership is exactly what our open-architecture strategy was built for. Our goal is to build the best small USVs in the world while making it easy to integrate leading technologies from across the U.S. and our allies. Havoc has developed a powerful collaborative autonomy solution and integrating it with Blue Ops platforms gives customers greater choice and flexibility while accelerating how quickly advanced autonomous maritime capabilities can be fielded.”
Blue Ops and Havoc also plan to establish operational fleets at Havoc’s headquarters in Rhode Island and Blue Ops’ headquarters in Florida. The locations are intended to give U.S. and allied defense customers and partners access to integrated systems for live demonstrations, testing, training, and operational evaluation, covering both single-vessel autonomy and coordinated multi-vessel operations.
Paul Lwin, CEO and Co-Founder of Havoc, added, “Havoc’s primary strategy is to pair our leading-edge collaborative autonomy software with platform manufacturers who have already proven innovation, excellence, and scale. Blue Ops is the perfect partner to continue our journey because they are building an open, flexible family of maritime systems that align directly with how we believe autonomy should be deployed. By integrating Havoc across the Blue Ops portfolio, we can give operators the ability to command and coordinate multiple autonomous vessels while preserving the flexibility to adapt as operational requirements evolve.”
The companies also intend to expand access to their respective technologies. Blue Ops and Red Cat plan to introduce Havoc’s autonomy and command-and-control capabilities to government and commercial customers, while Havoc intends to market Blue Ops’ USV portfolio to its customer base.
The partnership provides a framework for further technical integration, demonstrations, and joint customer engagement as the companies pursue opportunities requiring integrated autonomous maritime systems.
