Australia Turns Solar Powered Bluebottle Drones Into Submarine Detection Platforms for Navy

Australia is adding passive acoustic surveillance to Ocius Bluebottle unmanned surface vessels as it expands autonomous maritime monitoring for the Royal Australian Navy and border authorities. Ocius has contracted ThayerMahan for 40 Outpost acoustic-intelligence payloads with TransparenSea processing under SEA 1200, supporting the Navy's newly ordered fleet. Separately, Thales Australia's BlueSentry thin-line towed array has been selected for Bluebottles supporting Maritime Border Command, providing fibre-optic underwater acoustic sensing. The solar-, wind- and wave-powered platforms can remain at sea for extended periods, while submarine detection performance depends on acoustic conditions, processing and follow-up identification of contacts.