BlueHalo to provide autonomy capabilities for Kraken Technology Group'…
BlueHalo is partnering with Kraken Technology Group to supply autonomy capabilities and payloads for its unmanned surface vehicles including the K4 Manta, pictured above. (BlueHalo)
US company BlueHalo has partnered with Kraken Technology Group in the UK to integrate its artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)-backed autonomous mission systems into Kraken's unmanned maritime platforms, the companies announced in a joint statement on 3 May.
The co-operation will focus on integrating BlueHalo's autonomy capabilities with various Kraken unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) and unmanned surface/subsurface vehicles (USSVs) as well as multidomain ‘marsupial' capabilities. A marsupial capability involves the delivery of a payload to a forward position in a protected fashion, Jonathan Moneymaker, CEO of BlueHalo, told Janes on 16 May. In this case, the K4 Manta USSV dives and then surfaces near the target location to deliver a payload such as an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), a swarm of UASs, a counter-UAS (C-UAS) capability, or various systems for contested logistics, he said.
Integration with the K3 Scout USV, K4 Manta USSV, and K5 Kraken gunship is intended to produce new littoral capabilities, the statement said. BlueHalo will integrate its Titan and SkyView radio-frequency (RF)-based C-UAS technologies as payloads for the vehicles to provide a mobile, maritime UAS detect-and-defeat capability.
The K3 Scout is a low-cost, low-signature, high-performance autonomous multimission USV that can be used for commercial and military applications, according to the Kraken Technology Group website. The K4 Manta, still in development, is intended as a scalable platform that can carry multimission payloads over long distances to support covert infiltration, persistent reconnaissance, or loitering missions. The K5 Kraken is designed as a high-performance littoral gunship that can operate singly or as a swarm to defend littoral or afloat assets.
