SYOS dives in with first subsea unmanned vehicle

The SU10 UUV was unveiled at the Combined Naval Event in the United Kingdom and is designed for missions including mine countermeasures, infrastructure inspection, surveillance and route clearance.

The system is intended for deployment in maritime environments where operators require remote monitoring or intervention beneath the surface, particularly around critical infrastructure such as subsea cables, pipelines and offshore assets.

According to SYOS, the SU10 can operate independently or alongside other uncrewed systems, including aerial and surface vehicles, through a shared autonomy platform. The vehicle is designed to support coordinated operations in contested or hard-to-access environments.

“The SU10 extends our portfolio undersea and strengthens SYOS as a provider of affordable interoperable uncrewed capability across land, sea, air and now subsurface,” said Sam Vye, chief executive and founder of SYOS. These are products that stand alone as class-leaders, or operate as part of a connected, multi-domain uncrewed system, delivering operational effect from air to seabed, through our SYOS single autonomy stack, AAIMS.

“The SU10 enables rapid, scalable operations across both defensive and offensive mission sets. When paired with uncrewed surface vessels and uncrewed aerial systems it becomes part of a offshore node that can deploy, coordinate and adapt, while keeping people out of harm’s way.”

The vehicle can operate at depths of up to 500 metres and carries a modular payload of up to 10kg for inspection, intervention and surveillance applications. It can run for four hours on battery power or remain operational for longer periods when connected to surface power.

The SU10 uses a fibre-optic tether for live communications and can be operated remotely through satellite communications or locally from a launch site. Deployment options include shore-based operations, crewed vessels and uncrewed surface vessels fitted with launch and recovery systems.

The underwater vehicle is powered by the company’s AAIMS autonomy software, which is designed to coordinate multiple uncrewed systems simultaneously and stream operational data in real time.

SYOS said earlier variants of the technology have already been used in offshore oil and gas activities in New Zealand, including pipeline surveys, inspection and intervention work.

The company plans to deploy the SU10 during annual Antarctic research missions from late 2026, where it will be used for long-range mapping beneath sea ice.