Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has signed a strategic agreement with Defcomm, an Italian startup specialising in unmanned maritime solutions, to accelerate the development of autonomous surface units.
The agreement focuses on a co-investment partnership to speed up the development and industrialisation of surface drones designed by Defcomm.
The drones are designed for surveillance, intelligence, and patrol missions. Fincantieri noted that these have already passed long-run and endurance tests, and that they are able to operate in fully autonomous, remote control, or manual control modes.
The company added that the partnership will also enable Fincantieri to develop and integrate deployment capabilities for autonomous surface vehicles onto its naval units, serving both domestic and international customers.
Additionally, the collaboration will support upcoming training activities to demonstrate the platforms' advanced capabilities and interoperability.
Pierroberto Folgiero, CEO and Managing Director of Fincantieri, noted that it supports the development of new technologies to meet the demands of, “a competitive and rapidly evolving global market such as that of surface drones.”
