American underwater sensing specialist Ultra Maritime has been demonstrating new anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities to AUKUS allies.
On the U.S. Navy-led Lanternfish 2026 exercise, the firm showed how its new systems could combine to sense, locate and track uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs) and other larger subsea assets.
The company paired its Sea Spear passive sonar alongside its newest SSQ-125B active sonobuoys “to passively detect and actively localize UUVs,” it said in a press statement.
It noted: “Together, the two systems create an integrated detection ecosystem that extends the range, persistence and effectiveness of autonomous ASW operations.”
Exercise Lanternfish 2026 was conducted in conjunction with the U.K. and Australia in four U.S. coastal locations: Monterey Bay, California; Panama City, Florida; Little Creek, Virginia; and Naval Base Kitsap-Keyport, Washington.
Centred chiefly on evaluating undersea warfare technologies, this year its primary focus was on protecting critical seabed infrastructure and tracking UUVs.
In total 26 industry partners showcased about 50 separate technologies; as well as Ultra Maritime, other firms involved included Anduril, which demonstrated its Seabed Sentry & Lattice automated alert network.
Teledyne Marine had its Gavia reconfigurable UUV used by the Royal Navy for seabed surveys in the water, and ThayerMahan’s ShorePicket and Outpost systems tracked underwater drones of all sizes.
Meanwhile, Terradepth’s Ocean Data Integration systems supplied operators with data fusion and visualization tools.
- You can read more details about Sea Spear and the sonobuoys on the Ultra Maritime websi
