German Navy Trials Israeli Unmanned Spy Sub 

The German Navy concluded operational trials of the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) BlueWhale autonomous submarine earlier this week.

Its intelligence gathering and target acquisition capabilities were assessed during the Operational Experimentation (OPEX) trials, both above and below water in the Baltic Sea.

The OEX has been launched as a precursor to the German Navy’s Marine 2035 framework, enabling the navy to test new approaches and technologies under realistic conditions.

“The German Navy has just completed operational trials in the Baltic Sea for IAI’s BlueWhale autonomous submarine, together with NATO and Atlas Elektronik, a maritime hi-tech firm,” the IAI stated.

“The trials demonstrated the technological effectiveness of integrating unmanned vessels in the military response to future threats.”

BlueWhale

The unmanned underwater vessel was unveiled in May 2023 as a cost-effective alternative to a manned submarine.

It is said to be capable of performing a range of missions including intelligence-gathering, submarine and sea mine detection, and underwater target search.

BlueWhale detects sea and coast targets through a telescopic mast equipped with radar and electro-optical systems.

This information is then relayed in real-time through a satellite communications antenna to command posts worldwide.

The vessel also uses a towed sonar and flank array sonar for submarine detection and acoustic intelligence-gathering. For mine detection, it uses a dedicated synthetic aperture sonar. 

The battery-powered platform has an endurance of up to three weeks and can fit in a 40-foot (12 meters) shipping container.