Home Economy Economic Activity Vatn Systems acquires Crewless Marine

Vatn Systems acquires Crewless Marine

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01/09/2026

Vatn Systems-Acquires Crewless Marine — DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY company Vatn Systems Inc. of Portsmouth has acquired Crewless Marine.

PORTSMOUTH – Defense technology company Vatn Systems Inc. has acquired Crewless Marine, which specializes in advanced underwater acoustic sensing and signal processing. Terms of the acquisition, which was announced on Jan. 7, were not disclosed. The acquisition comes on the heels of Vatn’s $60 million Series A fundraising announcement, and their first international sale to Singapore’s Defense

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PORTSMOUTH – Defense technology company Vatn Systems Inc. has acquired Crewless Marine, which specializes in advanced underwater acoustic sensing and signal processing. Terms of the acquisition, which was announced on Jan. 7, were not disclosed. The acquisition comes on the heels of Vatn's $60 million Series A fundraising announcement, and their first international sale to Singapore's Defense Science and Technology Agency. The company says it is supporting the enhancement of Singapore's national defense with scalable, next-generation underwater capabilities. Founded by former U.S. Navy engineers, Crewless Marine of Portsmouth has decades of experience in torpedo acoustic systems, hydrophone manufacturing and real-time signal processing. The acquisition, Vatn said, strengthens the company’s strategy to vertically integrate its tech stack to control critical technologies, reduce supply chain dependencies and accelerate development cycles for autonomous systems. "With this acquisition, we're solidifying our leadership position in undersea acoustics and accelerating our ability to deliver high-performance, low-cost torpedo solutions at scale," said Nelson Mills, CEO and co-founder of Vatn Systems. "Acoustic sensing is fundamental to undersea warfare, and owning this capability end-to-end enables us to advance our mission while positioning us to expand into the harbor defense and environment monitoring markets." As part of the transaction, Crewless Marine co-founder Steve Bordonaro will join Vatn as chief engineer for systems, and co-founder Philip Caspers will join as director of acoustics. Bordonaro has more than 30 years of experience in acoustic signal processing and autonomous systems, including senior leadership roles at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, where he served as chief scientist for the sensors and sonar department and led torpedo guidance and control development. "Joining Vatn allows us to scale the technologies we've spent our careers developing and bring them to a broader set of missions," Bordonaro said. “We're excited to accelerate what's possible in acoustic sensing and undersea warfare together."