Sea Machines Robotics announced that its STEAMRACER-class autonomous surface ship has advanced to the final phase of competitive evaluation by the U.S. Navy under the Modular Attack Surface Combatant (MASC) program.
According to UK Defence Journal, Sea Machines stated this week that it is positioned to deliver an autonomous vessel built specifically on its existing autonomy technology, which it says has been developed and deployed over the past decade.
Since 2015, the company has invested over US$50 million to develop and deploy a fully integrated autonomy stack, aiming to address what it describes as one of the primary technical challenges for unmanned surface vessels: reliable integration of software and hardware at scale.
The STEAMRACER-class platform is designed to support fully unmanned maritime operations and is built around what it describes as an AI-enabled, reinforced remote command architecture.
According to the company, the ship is intended to favor unmanned operations, offering high speed, extended endurance, modular open-deck payload capability, and a secure onboard data environment.
The STEAMRACER is being developed through partnerships with several U.S. industrial companies, including St. Johns Ship Building, TOTE Services, Ring Power, Incat Crowther, and EMI-W&O.
To support communication and cybersecurity requirements, the company said that Sierra Nevada Corporation will provide its Maritime Advanced Secure Transmission (MAST) solution.
According to Sea Machines, the vessel aligns with U.S. Navy efforts to expand unmanned surface vessel production and accelerate the fielding of maritime autonomous systems.
Photo: Sea Machines. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
