EUROATLAS Announces GREYSHARK™ Autonomous Underwater Vehicles to Protect Undersea Cables And Infrastructure, Monitor Maritime Trade Routes, and Enhance Coastal Resilience

EUROATLAS, (www.euroatlas.com), the German advanced defence technologies company, announces GREYSHARK™: cutting-edge, multi-mission Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) – Bravo and Foxtrot, which will be deployable for underwater intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.

GREYSHARK™ AUVs have an integrated sensor suite consisting of 17 sensors, collecting data from each at all times when the AUV is deployed for mission-critical underwater operations, such as monitoring the integrity of undersea cables, minesweeping, and reconnaissance. The technology enables long range and high-endurance missions, driven by an integrated modular AI software stack developed in partnership with EvoLogics.

As recent incidents in the Red Sea and other sensitive regions demonstrate, threats to commercial shipping are on the rise, with significant ramifications for global stability. In 2024, disruptions to submarine cables in both the Baltic Sea and North Sea highlighted a new frontier in hybrid warfare and sabotage, underscoring the need for persistent ISR in high-risk, infrastructure-dense maritime corridors.

Advanced Engineering Meets Autonomous Precision

GREYSHARK™ AUVs provide a constant presence in important waters, with multi-mission capabilities which include:

● Monitoring of underwater infrastructure – Long-term inspection and surveillance of pipelines, cables, and subsea assets

● Port-to-port and over-horizon reconnaissance – Stealth intelligence gathering on, and surveillance of, infrastructure and vessel activity, even if beyond radar horizon

● Channel and coastal illumination and clearing – Active sonar operations to detect, deter, and drive out threats in addition to real-time identification and movement profiling of

target(s)

● Naval marine warfare – Detection and identification of a hostile presence and sensors

Thanks to GREYSHARK™ all of this can be achieved without risking human crews – or a nation’s core military resources – whilst safeguarding strategically significant locations.

Driven by an integrated modular AI software stack developed with EvoLogics, the highly advanced GREYSHARK™ AUVs allow for long range and high-endurance missions. GREYSHARK AUVs have an integrated sensor suite consisting of 17 sensors, collecting data at all times when deployed, for comprehensive mission-critical underwater operations.

EUROATLAS has developed two versions of the GREYSHARK™ AUV: Bravo (battery-powered) and Foxtrot (hydrogen fuel cell-powered). Both variants contain the highly advanced technology, with a slight difference in dimensions and endurance.

Thanks to their Level 5 autonomy – the highest level of vehicle automation, meaning they can operate under all conditions without humanintervention – these AUVs can remotely reconfigure mission profiles. This reduces downtime and increases mission flexibility, as they do notneed to leave their operational areas to transmit data or receive updates.

Instead, Bravo and Foxtrot both autonomously and remotely reconfigure mission profiles mid-deployment without surfacing for manual intervention, based on data received from sensors: for example, a cable surveillance mission could change to submarine detection.

Powered by a high density liquid hydrogen drive train technology, the Foxtrot AUV can travel underwater for up to 16 weeks, with the ability to travel up to 11,000 nautical miles at 4 knots (or 1,100 nautical miles at 10 knots) – without external connection or communication.

Although Bravo has a smaller deployment range, it retains the same system capabilities, such as sensor and data collection capacity and multimission ability. Both Bravo and Foxtrot can be deployed from a ship, aircraft, or from a coastal base where it can return to recharge.

Beyond individual autonomy, both GREYSHARK™ AUVs can operate as part of a swarm; there’s no upper limit to the number of vehicles, however six would theoretically offer a user maximum coverage. This swarm can be controlled by a pre-defined or dynamically assigned master, self-organise, or be under a mothership control. Acting in unison, the swarm can provide passive deterrence or identify threats collaboratively.

Swarm capabilities are crucial but it’s the interoperability with other systems which makes GREYSHARK™ part of the ‘combat cloud’: a means of communicating with other submarines, frigates, land-situated communication towers, land vehicles, and more.

GREYSHARK™ AUVs are capable of gathering data in open water using Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals such as GPS. They can also navigate polar regions, map the Arctic seabed, and operate autonomously in GNSS-denied environments.

Chief Executive Officer, Eugene Ciemnyjewski: “In a changing world, global affairs are contested on multiple fronts. EUROATLAS responds to such challenges with GREYSHARK™: a force multiplier that offers elevated protection across maritime operations. The marine environment presents a multitude of humanity-defining opportunities yet also urgent and complex tests. With a deep network and trusted partners, EUROATLAS can scale production to enhance autonomous underwater capabilities across NATO and partner nations at an accelerated rate.”

The Bravo variant has undergone sea testing and is now ready for production, whilst the Foxtrot variant will be ready for open water sea testing by the end of this year following completion of the fuel cell integration. Manufactured in Europe to ensure secure and locally sustained operations across prioritised coastal regions, the systems are part of EUROATLAS’s plan to reach a production capacity of 150 units per year by 2026.

The Critical Geopolitical Need to Protect Undersea Cables

98% of international data – spanning critical information flow such as digital communications, financial transactions, navigation, logistics, secure as well as government and and military operations – travels through underwater cables, spanning over 1.3 million km of seabed.

Major tech companies are increasingly turning to undersea infrastructure to transfer data. In early 2025, Meta announced plans to build a global 50,000km sub-sea cable and, in 2024, Google invested $1 billion in digital and fibre-option connectivity between the US and Japan.

There is a growing need for monitoring and deterrence in congested maritime zones in choke points like the Red Sea and Baltic Sea (approximately 12-15% of global trade passes through the Red Sea and Suez Canal; 15% of global cargo traffic uses the Baltic Sea), the GIUK (Greenland–Iceland–United Kingdom) gap, and the Arctic, ensuring belligerents do not pose a threat to the vast network of underwater infrastructure and maritime traffic.

Strategic Arctic readiness is a geopolitical priority, including for nations located outside the High North and its immediacy. The Arctic holds a depth of natural resources, including vast reserves of undiscovered oil and gas. Challenges in the Arctic have been accentuated by climate change. With the High North potentially seeing ice free summers as soon as 2040 and the sea ice melting at a rapid rate, new maritime territory, shipping and Northern trade routes will open up, further increasing the strategic value of the Arctic.

file photo courtsey EUROATLAS