Helsing unveiled its Lura software platform and SG-1 Fathom autonomous underwater gliders, which together form a subsea surveillance network that will soon support the UK Royal Navy and two unspecified, allied navies defend their waters.
Lura is a software platform that uses a large acoustic model – similar to large language models – trained on decades of acoustic data. The platform can identify and classify enemy acoustic signatures (sounds made by ships and submarines) with what the company considers unparalleled accuracy.
SG-1 Fathom, an autonomous underwater glider – nearly two metres in length, with a diameter of 28 centremetres, and a top speed of two to three knots – integrates Lura, allowing the system to detect threats underwater. It then sends limited sets of the data to command and control when the glider surfaces. These gliders can reach to depths of 1,000 metres.
The European defence technology company revealed additional details of the concept to Naval Technology in a briefing with a select group of the press on 13 May 2025.
Production and timeline
A constellation of Fathom gliders are required to operate together, not in isolation. This grouping can also include sensor systems from other naval suppliers too. The mass of systems enables location and identification methods such as triangulation.
For this reason, Helsing’s gliders are said to be affordable and scalable. The company announced that it will establish a new facility in the UK where it will manufacture these attritable gliders on mass.
Helsing initially anticipate delivery of hundreds of Fathoms, soon producing thousands. Depending on procurement times within the UK Ministry of Defence, Helsing expect to deliver in 12 months’ time.
Trade-off: covertness or comms?
Helsing did not design the gliders to communicate to each other, ensuring the Navy can maintain silence as much as possible during operations. This also adds credence to the glider’s design, reducing the acoustic signature of Fathom itself.
“If other customers want, the gliders [can] have underwater communications in them, but it’s a trade-off of covertness versus communication,” said Amelia Gould, general manager for maritime programmes at Helsing.
Classifies minute, individual details
Subsea surveillance is like “finding a needle in a haystack,” Gould observed, and it “is becoming harder and harder”.
However, Gould revealed the level of effectiveness of Helsing’s capability to classify maritime platforms above and below the surface with up to 90% accuracy.
In some cases, the capability has proven its ability to differentiate ships of the same class. Although, due to the sensitivity of the trials, the company was unable to say what class of ships the platform identified.
Rise of underwater sensing
Underwater warfare is growing beyond the strategic capability that conventional and nuclear-powered submarines can offer navies.
Operations in the so-called gray-zone, in the dubious space between peace and war, are more common. Critical undersea infrastructure has become prey to belligerent nations such as Russia and China.
Helsing’s solution is one of many responsive, surveillance measures to come. The supplier has worked closely with the Royal Navy over the last 18 months to build its acoustic data model.
While Helsing’s artificial intelligence model is a highly developed concept, it is not the first time that this type of maritime surveillance concept has come to market. Other solutions exist too, such as the partnership between Ultra Maritime and Anduril in which an XLUUV deploys Seabed Sentry, which in turn hosts the Sea Spear sonar sensing array.
These defensive measures work along the same line as they increase western navies’ situational awareness in an increasingly congested domain.
Going forward, Helsing will similarly work with a consortium of UK companies including QinetiQ, Blue Ocean, and Ocean Infinity to scale Lura and SG-1 gliders as they continue to develop iteratively as the product matures.
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