Uncrewed surface vessels to bolster Australia’s maritime border security
NewsAugust 11, 2025
GROTON, Connecticut. ThayerMahan's Bluebottle uncrewed surface vessel (USV) platform is being acquired for use by Australia’s Maritime Border Command (MBC) and Royal Australian Navy to expand surveillance and patrol coverage, the company announced in a statement.
The MBC will deploy the USVs for missions including illegal fishing detection, border security operations, and marine protected area monitoring, the statement reads. The Royal Australian Navy is testing naval variants of the Bluebottle equipped for anti-submarine warfare and underwater surveillance, including integration with ThayerMahan’s Outpost passive acoustic surveillance system.
A recent demonstration off San Diego used a Bluebottle as a platform for the Outpost system, showing its potential to serve as part of distributed underwater sensor networks, the company says. ThayerMahan states that these capabilities will contribute to Australia’s ability to monitor approximately 10% of the world’s ocean surface and more than 59,000 kilometers of coastline, and align with the AUKUS partnership’s focus on advanced maritime defense technologies.
