Can Portugal solve NATO’s uncrewed systems development challenge?
A Greyshark AUV (right) swims with dolphins in Portuguese waters during a recent REPMUS. (Photo: NATO)
NATO has spent more than a decade building one of the world’s most sophisticated maritime uncrewed experimentation ecosystems, but still lacks a way to translate this testing into alliance-wide operational capability. Portugal now believes it has the answer.
During the past 15 years, Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping with Maritime Unmanned Systems (REPMUS) and Dynamic Messenger exercises have progressively positioned Portugal as NATO’s primary hub for maritime uncrewed systems (MUS) experimentation.
Its initial scope was modest, covering annual R&D and T&E demonstrations at Tróia, exploiting a geography that offers sheltered coastal waters for early-stage systems on the one hand and open Atlantic conditions for more advanced testing on the other.
Since then, the exercise and its ambitions have expanded significantly. Participation grew between 2018 and 2023 from five countries to more than 25. REPMUS has also progressively shifted from technology
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