When Fincantieri, one of the world’s largest and oldest shipbuilding groups, announced three years ago that it was entering the subsea robotics sector, many in the maritime world assumed it would be a gradual move – perhaps the development of an underwater vehicle here, a defence research project there.

What has emerged is something far more expansive: a full underwater ecosystem of drones, sensors, motherships and AI-driven command-and-control systems that Fincantieri believes will redefine the way nations and industries protect, monitor, maintain, and develop critical underwater infrastructures, such as telecommunication cables, pipelines, offshore energy assets, ports and other strategic installations.