Strydent’s SPEAR-1 – (Survey, Position, Evaluate, Attack, Relay), is a low-cost, attritable, scalable, rapidly deployable autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) designed to operate in swarms (i.e., 100’s, 1,000’s, or 10,000’s units). Strydent’s AUV technology includes its PoseidonTM proprietary software developed to enable swarm capability and advanced signal processing and sensor systems providing a holistic approach to cover the entire Detect-Track-Classify-Defeat kill chain. Strydent’s SPEAR-1 AUVs are designed with a modular, customizable architecture supporting flexible payload integration providing varying capabilities.
Strydent’s man-portable AUV weighs ~25 lbs, is 1m long, has a payload capacity of ~15 lbs or 3 liters, performs at a depth of 300 meters, a speed of up to 12 knots with a cruise speed of about 5 kts and an endurance of up to 35 nautical miles, a communications range of >4000 meters, and up to 36-hour duration at loiter speed 0.5kts.
The SPEAR-1 sensor payload is modular and can be fitted with a Multibeam Echo Sounder, a Multibeam Forward Looking Sonar, a Side Scan Sonar, Side Aperture Sonar and a buried object sonar. As an example of tailored payloads, for mine detection and hunting, an EO camera can be used to image mines, a magnetometer for to detect magnetic signatures, sonar and EO sensors able to sense suspended mines, side scan/forward looking sonars to scan the sea floor, and sediment penetrating sonar to scan buried/covered mines in a larger variant. The SPEAR-1 modular design and open architecture support sensor tailoring to the mission.
Following successful completion and testing of its six prototypes, Strydent has now moved into production scale manufacturing to develop about 1000 AUV per year by the end of Q1 2027.