REPMUS 2025: ZeroUSV reveals sonar test milestone
ZeroUSV's Oceanus12 USV autonomously launched and recovered a sonar array at NATO's REPMUS 2025 exercise. (ZeroUSV)
UK maritime autonomous systems group ZeroUSV has claimed a world-first towed array sonar deployment during the early stages of NATO's 'REPMUS' (Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping with Maritime Unmanned Systems)/'Dynamic Messenger' (DYMS) 2025 exercise off the coast of Portugal.
In a 22 September release, the Plymouth-based company said its Oceanus12 unmanned surface vehicle (USV) had become the first USV to autonomously launch and recover a thin-lined towed anti-submarine warfare (ASW) sonar array without human involvement. Oceanus12 has also demonstrated the deployment of miniaturised sonobuoys, according to the company.
Beginning on 15 September, REPMUS is NATO's largest annual exercise for unmanned naval systems. Hosted by the Portuguese Navy off the Tróia peninsula and Setúbal Bay, and co-organised by Allied Maritime Command and Allied Command Transformation, the exercise brings together more than 20 allied nations together with defence primes and technology innovators to test how unmanned and manned fleets can operate together in live mission scenarios. Integrated with DYMS, REPMUS provides a proving ground where emerging technologies are trialled at scale in complex real-world scenarios.
ZeroUSV is testing Oceanus12 at REPMUS 25 under a GBP196,000 (USD262,000) contract awarded by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) earlier in 2025. Upgraded with sonar, radar, and communications payloads ahead of the exercise, Oceanus12 is a 12 m monohull USV being used to demonstrate persistent, autonomous ASW operations as part of NATO's live-experimentation programme.
As part of this activity, ZeroUSV successfully completed what the company claims is “the first fully autonomous launch and recovery of a towed array”. The trial used the OptiArray thin-line fibre-optic passive towed array sonar, produced by Dutch sensor house Optics11, which was fitted in the stern well on Oceanus12.
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