Defence tech company Vatn Systems is partnering Palantir Technologies to increase manufacturing digitisation and scale its capabilities. Vatn builds autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) for the US military and allies. The collaboration will bring AI-powered manufacturing to AUV production, and aims to bolster the US defence industrial base.

The partnership will deploy Palantir’s software platform to digitise the manufacturing process and provide AI-driven insights. These will help accelerate production of underwater vehicles for national security applications. The collaboration will enable Vatn to streamline its Supply Chain Management and build additional resiliency.

“Partnering with Palantir enables us to move smarter and faster as we achieve our vision of becoming the platform-scale manufacturer of low cost and attritable autonomous underwater systems in the United States,” said Nelson Mills, co-founder and CEO of Vatn Systems. “Palantir’s technology gives us real-time visibility into our operations, strengthening our ability to anticipate challenges, optimise resources, and deliver critical systems to our customers with unprecedented speed and precision.”

“Vatn is building exactly the kind of mission-critical capability that our software is designed to support,” said Palantir’s Louis Mosley. “Providing a digital, AI-powered backbone for the company’s operations, will help to build these AUVs faster, make them more adaptable and ultimately strengthen western deterrence.”

Since its founding in April 2023, Vatn Systems has progressed from concept to deployment, delivering its first AUVs in 17 months. The company is actively testing in military exercises with defence organisations including the US Navy. With 12 vehicles now in the hands of government customers and more on order, the company is accelerating production in partnership with Palantir.  The collaboration will strengthen the US defence industrial base, modernising how underwater systems are built, and develop the kinds of capabilities that can form the bedrock of Pillar 2 of the AUKUS defence and security partnership.