L3Harris Technologies [LHX] on Wednesday said it has made a nearly $10 million investment in Seasats, a small company that has developed a long-endurance autonomous surface vessel (ASV), a deal that complements its existing small and medium ASV programs and provides the San Diego-based company with funding and expertise to rapidly scale production.
The minority investment also combines Seasats’ X3 ASV with L3Harris’ capabilities and payloads in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and electronic warfare.
Seasats has nine full-time employees and a few part-time contractors. A company spokesman told
Defense Daily that the investment goes beyond the monetary value to include L3Harris’ “strategic strengths,” such as its work with the Defense Department, which will “flow through to our commercial and scientific customers too.”
L3Harris has delivered more than 450 autonomous unmanned undersea and surface maritime vessels.
The X3 is a micro-ASV, nearly 10-feet long and a beam of nearly three feet, that features a low profile in the water for stealth and six-month endurance in all weather conditions. L3Harris also said the X3 offers customers a lower price point than other small ASVs.
L3Harris said the partnership between the companies could boost the autonomous capabilities, artificial intelligence and endurance of the X3 and cut production time by up to 75 percent. An L3Harris spokesman said the company’s Open Water Power modules can provide power cells to increase the endurance of the X3.
“Our U.S. Navy customers are pursuing innovative solutions to reliably and efficiently patrol the waters from the Red Sea into the Persian Gulf and we understand their urgent need for proliferated maritime ASV architectures,” said Daniel Gittsovich, vice president, corporate strategy and development, for L3Harris. “Our investment and collaboration with Seasats provides a proven, multi-capability solution for global maritime security challenges.”
Previous demonstrations of the X3 with the Navy “were enthusiastically received” and the company will work with L3Harris in preparation for operational testing with the Navy’s Task Force 59 in the Arabian Peninsula in 2023, Mike Flanigan, CEO of Seasats, said in a statement.
The Navy in the fall of 2021 stood up Task Force 59 to integrate unmanned systems and artificial intelligence for maritime operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations. By next summer, 5th Fleet and its international partners plan to have 100 unmanned surface vessels operating in the Middle East region and integrated through a mesh network.