Ocius sells two Bluebottles to the US for $2.4 million

Autonomous uncrewed vessel developer Ocius Technology has announced the sale of two Bluebottle USVs to the USA for $2.4 million and the signing of a Teaming Agreement with US Defence Prime contractor ThayerMahan to develop its Outpost System on Ocius’ Bluebottle USVs.

Previously the two companies had combined to demonstrate the Bluebottle, which is designed for long durance surveillance operations, in the United States.

Also today, Royal Australian Navy personnel officially accepted delivery of their sixth RAN Bluebottle, designated BB706 (pictured).

On hand for the delivery was Matt Thistlethwaite, Assistant Minister for Defence, Assistant Minister for Veterans’ Affairs and Assistant Minister for the Republic.

Robert Dane, Ocius CEO Robert Dane said: “Both companies share a mutual love of technology and the sea and have complementary proven products.

“Recently, in San Diego, engineers from both companies worked as a team to combine ThayerMahan’s TRL8 (-9) Outpost system with our TRL8 (-9) Bluebottle USVs.”

Diring April 2024 off San Diego, Ocius demonstrated two Bluebottle USVs with Bluebottle BONNIE operating in San Diego Harbour participating in Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) exercises. Bluebottle BETH operated 15NM off the coast carrying a ThayerMahan Outpost passive array system.

The Outpost system on BETH’s keel was deployed to variable depths with on-board processing and communications live back to base over a period of five days.

As a result, ThayerMahan, is buying both Bluebottles for $2.4 million and and will use them off Connecticut for marine mammal monitoring and demonstrating the capability to US customers.

CEO of ThayerMahan Mike Connor said his company’s collaboration with Ocius had been ‘tremendous’.

Connor said: “Combining our proven Outpost acoustic sensing system with Bluebottle’s impressive manoeuvrability, functionality, and payload capacity enables us to maximise the performance of our scalable, autonomous surveillance systems. A

“Among other features, the Bluebottle’s ability to harness wind, wave and solar energy and its integrated keel winch are game changers.

“Together, we will provide AUKUS nations with unprecedented maritime domain awareness, on and below the ocean’s surface, preserving their advantage in a changing and uncertain world.”

Further reading:
Ocius BlueBottle USV to be demonstrated in the United States

Picture: Ocius Technology