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Can retrofitted autonomy support cash-strapped navies?

17th January 2025 - 16:10 GMT | by Tony Fyler in Swansea

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Retrofitted autonomy can turn any vessel into an autonomous vessel. (Image: Saab)

Autonomous vessels can reduce risk to the lives of naval personnel, but could retrofitting be a faster, cheaper option?

In late 2024, retro-active autonomy, a new application of existing technology, was launched in both the commercial and the naval world.

Retro-active autonomy is a process in which existing vessels, as crewed by active personnel, could be fitted with a technological capability that would turn them into autonomous vessels.

Those vessels could then be either remotely piloted from a safe distance away, or programmed with objectives and left to achieve them on full autonomy, avoiding obstacles and potential threat vessels along the way.

Among the most prominent exponents of the technology in late 2024 was Saab, which launched its Autonomous

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