Naval primes dive into an underwater acquisition gold rush
Exail’s DriX uncrewed surface vessel. (Photo: Exail)
A cluster of acquisitions by Fincantieri, Thales, Lockheed Martin and Rheinmetall points to a race to secure underwater warfare, autonomy and sensing capability.
A cluster of acquisitions completed or announced within days of each other in early July 2026 pointed to a new wave of consolidation around underwater warfare, autonomy and maritime sensing, as defence primes moved to secure capability.
Fincantieri, Thales, Lockheed Martin and Rheinmetall have each struck recent deals with underwater-focused companies, spanning uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUV), uncrewed surface vehicles (USV), sonar, inertial navigation and subsea communications.
Four deals reveal common themes
Fincantieri, the Trieste-headquartered shipbuilder, announced on 6 July agreements to acquire majority stakes in four companies: Next Geosolutions (NextGeo), a marine survey and geoscience specialist; WSense, a La Sapienza University
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