USV: gunboats without a crew

Mr Symonds, what is your professional background?
I am an industrial designer and used to specialise in cars. Among others, I worked for Mercedes and Ford. Later I designed interiors and exteriors for superyachts. I soon decided that I wanted to do more engineering than design and art, and I started a job as a naval architect at a racing boat company in Germany. This company also has a racing team in the P1 class, comparable to Formula 1 on the water. High speeds and working with lightweight composite materials, such as epoxy sandwich construction – which, by the way, is “stealth” – go without saying in this field.

One day my boss asked me whether I had contacts with the military. I come from Hereford in England, where almost everyone has connections to the Special Forces (laughs). We soon received orders for special boats in Florida. Our platform was perfect for Special Forces: stealth, or rather a minimal radar signature, light and with minimal draught. That is ideal for special forces: put the boat in the water and dash away from the coast quickly. Later we built protection boats for energy companies in the Middle East.

Why did you then decide to found your own company focusing on unmanned vessels?
I recognised that it has great potential. The growth of AI technology for navigation is boosting the use of autonomous systems. If no human has to be on board, this has considerable advantages for the design: you can distribute the weight optimally, you need no life-saving equipment and you do not have to take safety regulations into account. For example, you do not even need a toilet. You can concentrate 100 percent on the system and thus design the best solution for hull, engine and fuel consumption. Unmanned vessels are therefore developed and built faster and are considerably cheaper.

In 2025 I founded my company Sigmund in order to concentrate exclusively on unmanned shipping for cargo and military purposes. For this I have several partners and shipyards worldwide. I believe we are one of the first companies in the world to offer such unmanned systems.

What does the planning and design process for an unmanned vessel look like?
We are a design-led company and develop our platforms on the basis of future requirements for performance, mission profile and payload integration, taking materials and scalability into account. The process begins with conceptual sketching and structured brainstorming, based on proven methods from automotive design. This is followed by the development of the hull architecture, the selection of suitable propulsion systems and the integration and arrangement of all technical systems. Building on this, we carry out CFD analyses (flow simulation) to verify and optimise the initial performance calculations.

In the next phase, we produce detailed design and structural drawings, supplemented by high-quality visualisations and 3D CAD models for presentations and videos. We cooperate with the British shipbuilding company Concept Marine Group, which can build ships almost anywhere in the world. The company also concludes the contracts with the defence ministries.

As regards armament, we cooperate with Aselsan and Leonardo. They then install guns, remote weapon stations, radars and self-protection systems.

What are you working on at the moment?
We are currently bringing a seven-metre reconnaissance boat to market, which will be ready after the summer. We have already arranged a demonstration for Greece after meeting the chief of staff of the Hellenic Armed Forces. We also have a programme running with the Netherlands. We source the engine for the boat from the Austrian company Belassi.

How can your unmanned vessels be used?
We offer platforms for different roles: navy, asset protection, surveillance and espionage. Larger catamarans can be fitted with torpedoes. And they have a deck for up to four unmanned aerial vehicles. They are effectively small aircraft carriers.

Unmanned boats can create a stealth corridor for fleets by sailing ahead and jamming the radar so that other ships can follow undetected. A platform from Leonardo for defence against unmanned aerial objects, both kinetic and electromagnetic, can be mounted. Our platforms are also suitable as rescue boats, for example to recover downed pilots from the sea.

How fast are your boats and what ranges do they have?
The seven-metre reconnaissance boat already mentioned has a V-hull and reaches up to 70 knots, which is about 130 kilometres per hour. In loitering mode it can operate for up to six days at six knots, i.e. around twelve kilometres per hour. That is ideal for countries with many islands, such as Greece.

We are also developing an eleven-metre wingman boat with the model name Viper. These boats escort and protect fleets and can be used both for anti-submarine warfare and for logistical purposes. They carry small 70-millimetre rockets on board as well as a helipad and an additional fuel tank.

We would also like to offer a 15-metre trimaran called Triraptor, which is not only fully stealth but also allows extensive armament and sensors, such as a remote weapon station. Its four 350 PS diesel outboard engines can be replaced quickly and allow easy maintenance. It reaches 70 knots and has a range of around 700 nautical miles, which is around 1,300 kilometres. Large catamarans with a length of 20 to 29 metres are also possible, offering space on board for three medium-sized unmanned helicopters.

Are unmanned vessels already in real operational use?
One NATO country has had an unmanned vessel in its navy since 2022 that is no longer a prototype. The Marlin USV, developed by the Turkish shipyard Sefine in cooperation with Aselsan, is a modular unmanned surface system around 15 metres long for naval operations. It combines autonomous navigation with flexible payload integration and can be used for missions such as reconnaissance, surveillance, electronic warfare, surface warfare and mine countermeasures.

The system was commissioned in January 2024 and has thus been in operational use for about two years. It is regarded as a modern reference example of networked, multi-role USV platforms, but is still at an early stage of fleet maturity.