Vatn Systems and Taiwan's NCSIST Sign Agreement to Explore Undersea Autonomy for Maritime Defense

Vatn Systems, a Veteran Ventures Capital Fund II portfolio company building autonomous underwater vehicles for the U.S. military, allied nations and commercial customers, announced on August 11 an agreement with Taiwan's National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) to explore joint naval defense projects on behalf of Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense. NCSIST is the Taiwanese organization responsible for developing, manufacturing, supporting and sustaining weapons systems and dual-use technology for the ministry.

The memorandum of understanding establishes a framework for the two organizations to jointly develop AI-enabled command and control systems, field autonomous underwater vehicles including Vatn's S12 AUV, and build supply chain and sustainment support based in Taiwan. The partnership is intended to modernize Taiwan's naval defenses and establish local sustainment capacity.

"Taiwan is one of many allies rethinking what undersea defense looks like, and we're glad NCSIST sees Vatn as an integral part of that conversation," said Nelson Mills, co-founder and CEO of Vatn Systems.

The agreement reflects growing interest from allied defense ministries in Vatn's modular, low-cost approach to undersea autonomy, which allows its vehicles to be configured for mission-specific range, accuracy and sensor requirements without the cost of legacy systems. It follows the July launch of SIGURD, Vatn's autonomous mine countermeasure system built on the Skelmir S6 platform, and it drew wide coverage, including a Bloomberg feature on the company published the same day and reporting from Naval Today, Marine Technology News, The Defense Post and the South China Morning Post.

Vatn Systems was founded in 2023 by maritime experts and military leaders and is headquartered in Rhode Island. Veteran Ventures Capital announced its Fund II investment in Vatn Systems in 2025.

Sources: PR Newswire; Bloomberg.

Image: Vatn Systems