Sonar Tech Advances Autonomous Undersea Warfare & Surveillance

Ultra Maritime has validated a new acoustic architecture for future autonomous counter-unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations during the U.S. Navy’s 2026 Lanternfish exercise.

The demonstration combined two distinct technologies: the Sea Spear deployable passive sonar and the newly developed SSQ-125B active sonobuoy. By pairing these systems, the trial successfully detected targets passively before actively localizing unmanned underwater vehicles, creating an integrated detection ecosystem built for contested maritime environments.

Designed and manufactured exclusively by Ultra Maritime, the SSQ-125B represents the latest generation of active sonobuoy technology. As the only active sonobuoy of its class, it enhances detection and localization performance while complementing the persistent passive sensing capabilities offered by the Sea Spear system, extending the operational range, persistence, and overall effectiveness of autonomous ASW missions.

This integrated active-passive capability directly supports Ultra Maritime’s broader Ocean of Things concept, which envisions a distributed, intelligent network of autonomous underwater sensors. Deployed from either manned or unmanned platforms, the scalable architecture provides a continuous, real-time picture of the undersea battlespace for diverse applications, including port and critical infrastructure protection, maritime choke point security, expeditionary operations, and long-duration surveillance of strategically important waterways.