As part of the collaboration, SEA will provide hydrophones for use on OSHEN’s C-STARS uncrewed surface system to provide low-power acoustic listening capability. The project will see OSHEN deploy its rugged sail-powered C-STARS micro-drones from Zero USV’s Oceanus12 uncrewed surface vessel to act as a distributed acoustic network, monitoring for communication signals from underwater assets.

SEA’s hydrophones will provide the acoustic sensing capability, with the technology already deployed in various applications, including maritime intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operations. SEA’s collaboration with OSHEN for the DASA program reflects growing international demand for scalable acoustic and monitoring capabilities that can be deployed from both crewed and uncrewed platforms.

It also builds on SEA’s wider contribution to UK and international wide-area ASW and ISR programs and operations, where its sensing and processing technologies—such as KraitSense—deliver underwater surveillance capabilities across complex operational environments.

Guy Hope, Business Development Executive at SEA, said, “Autonomous systems are reshaping how navies think about surveillance, anti-submarine warfare, and communications. By integrating SEA hydrophones into OSHEN’s C-STARS platforms, this exciting project aims to demonstrate a novel approach to the deployment of scalable, affordable, low-signature sensor and communication networks.”   

Operations for the DASA project are centered at Turnchapel Wharf in Plymouth, where OSHEN and ZeroUSV are based, a tech cluster for marine autonomy in the Southwest, with Plymouth having been named as the National Centre for Marine Autonomy. SEA will support the program from its recently upgraded and expanded manufacturing facility in Barnstaple, North Devon, strengthening collaboration across the South West’s maritime technology sector.

Anahita Laverack, CEO at OSHEN, said, “To deliver wide-area monitoring, robust and reliable performance is key. C-STARS was designed for long-endurance missions in extreme operating environments. By integrating SEA’s proven acoustic sensors onto the platform, we can enhance underwater situational awareness in a scalable and cost-effective way.”

The program forms part of wider UK efforts to explore distributed and autonomous approaches to surface and subsea surveillance and maritime security.

For more information, please visit: https://www.sea.co.uk/