Unmanned surface vessels with effectors: Stark presents Vanta 12 with Minerva, Cascade and Sea Venom

Unmanned surface vessels with AI on board: under the name Vanta 12, Stark has presented a new unmanned surface vessel (USV). Twelve metres long, the platform is designed to autonomously keep watch over wide sea areas, detect threats at sea and engage them if required.

Control is handled by the Minerva AI platform. Range is to reach 1,200 nautical miles and speed 40 knots – both as maximum values. The company says this allows weeks-long missions at sea, including in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea as well as in the North Atlantic.

Vanta 12 can carry a maximum payload of two tonnes. Ten Cascade loitering munitions are already integrated, and Stark has demonstrated their launch from the platform; in addition there are four Sea Venom anti-ship missiles from MBDA. The USV is thus meant to detect and track targets at sea, but also engage them; it is also envisaged to strike land targets with the Cascade systems. The platform could thereby take over tasks that have so far required crewed ships – and spare personnel in the process.

Unmanned surface vessels in a network: test at “Repmus”

In September, Vanta 12 was tested at “Repmus”, a NATO exercise, in a network with manned and unmanned systems. Minerva guided the USV, triggered the launch of Cascade loitering munitions and simulated a deployment of the Sea Venom.

Stark cites the growing threat to critical infrastructure at sea as the background to possible fields of application: suspected sabotage of undersea cables, hybrid activities in the North Sea and Baltic Sea region and other dangers to Europe's sea lanes.

Manufacturing with the Flensburger Shipyard

The partner for building the Vanta family is the Flensburger Shipyard. Industrial production capacity for USV is to be established in Flensburg; production is set up so that it can grow with demand and makes manufacturing in Europe possible.

Vanta 12 is armed to the teeth. Two tonnes of payload mean that we can integrate not only sensors but a whole range of effectors. At the same time, the system can stay at sea for weeks, monitor large areas and track threats. For us, that is the decisive point: we want to detect and deter threats early. If deterrence is not enough, Vanta-12 can strike.— Max Berger, Director Maritime at Stark