Metal Shark partners with HavocAI on unmanned surface vessels

Metal Shark and HavocAI, a leading builder of maritime swarm autonomy, on Wednesday announced a strategic partnership integrating Havoc's autonomy platform across Metal Shark's existing fleet of high-speed maneuverable unmanned surface vessels.
This first-of-its-kind deployment further demonstrates that the autonomous maritime capabilities required to defend the United States are real, and they’re available right now, Metal Shark said in a press release.
Already deployed with the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army, and used in live operational settings by multiple international allies, Havoc's collaborative autonomy technology will allow a single operator to quickly and effectively conduct complex operations involving multiple Metal Shark autonomous surface vessels simultaneously. This technology enables unprecedented interoperability and lethality through autonomous, intelligent boat swarms that overwhelm adversaries, Metal Shark said.
Metal Shark has won multiple major U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, and Marine Corps contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars to produce various patrol boats. The company is currently producing the U.S. Navy’s next-generation 40 PB combatant craft , and 85’ Near Coastal Patrol Vessels, establishing itself as a key supplier of welded aluminum military vessels to the Navy and other branches of the U.S. Armed Forces.
"We're not just announcing a partnership — we're once again demonstrating that real autonomy is available right now for existing warfighting platforms," said Paul Lwin, CEO of HavocAI. "Metal Shark's engineering excellence and track record of delivering thousands of reliable vessels to military and commercial operators worldwide makes them the ideal partner for expanding Havoc’s proven collaborative autonomy capabilities."
"Simply put, we chose to partner with Havoc because they are demonstrating real and substantial, head-turning operational results in the autonomous surface vessels space," said Chris Allard, CEO of Metal Shark. "Over the years, Metal Shark has built and delivered over 400 autonomous or remote operated vessels, and the scale and maturity of Havoc’s platform in such a short time made them the perfect partner for us.”
The partnership addresses the U.S. and allied militaries’ critical needs for heterogeneous fleet coordination – mixed fleets of different sizes and capabilities to operate cohesively, maximizing mission flexibility and asset utilization, Metal Shark said.
In the past 20 years Metal Shark has designed, built, and delivered over 2,000 vessels for U.S. and foreign militaries and first responders , while more recently debuting innovative autonomous platforms like the United States Marine Corps long-range unmanned surface vessel, Prowler semi-submersible USV and Frenzy micro-USV, and delivering their new high-speed autonomous surface vessels at production rates of up to one unit per day.
This year, Havoc AI has announced production and integration partnerships with Lockheed Martin, PacMar Technologies, and Tocaro Blue, and their products have been effectively utilized by warfighters in nearly a dozen official U.S. Department of War missions and exercises.
Metal Shark specializes in the design and construction of welded aluminum vessels from 16 feet to over 300 feet for military, law enforcement and commercial operators. Key customers include U.S. and foreign militaries, law enforcement agencies, fire departments, and other clients worldwide. With two boat-building facilities in Louisiana, a research, design and testing facility in Alabama, plus a dedicated engineering facility in Croatia, Metal Shark’s 400-plus employees produce over 200 vessels per year.
HavocAI has already delivered fully operational products to the U.S. Department of War. The company recently hosted a demonstration where one operator controlled 25 autonomous vessels deployed in Europe, Rhode Island and San Diego from one maritime operations center.