Home Economy Government Vatn Systems unveils manufacturing facility in Bristol, AUV-torpedo line

Vatn Systems unveils manufacturing facility in Bristol, AUV-torpedo line

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PBN Staff

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05/14/2025

Vatn Systems Skelmir S12 — VATN SYSTEMS has launched a new autonomous underwater vehicle platform torpedo line, called the Skelmir S12, pictured, and announced the opening of a new manufacturing facility in Bristol with the ability to build 2,000 of the AUVs annually. / COURTESY VATN SYSTEMS

PORTSMOUTH – Defense technology company Vatn Systems has opened a new manufacturing facility in Bristol capable of producing up to 2,000 of its autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs, annually. The company said in a news release on May 12 the new manufacturing facility leverages patent-pending modular design and vertical integration techniques, enabling rapid production at

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PORTSMOUTH – Defense technology company Vatn Systems has opened a new manufacturing facility in Bristol capable of producing up to 2,000 of its autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs, annually. The company said in a news release on May 12 the new manufacturing facility leverages patent-pending modular design and vertical integration techniques, enabling rapid production at a scale previously unseen in the underwater vehicle market. "With current industry standards at about 200 vehicles per year, this facility will enable a strong competitive differentiation for us as we scale production capacity to 2,000+ vehicles annually to meet growing customer demand," said Brendan Smith, director of manufacturing at Vatn Systems. "By leveraging modular design and vertically integrated production, we're able to reduce lead times, minimize handoffs and eliminate many of the inefficiencies common in traditional assembly processes. This approach gives us tighter control over quality, faster iteration cycles and the ability to rapidly scale output as demand increases." Vatn recently announced a partnership with Palantir that enables the company to digitize its manufacturing process and provide artificial-intelligence-driven insights to accelerate the production of AUVs built in the new facility, which is expected to reach full production capability in July 2025. Also on May 12, Vatn Systems announced a new, innovative AUV-torpedo line, the Skelmir S12, a lightweight platform measuring 12.75 inches in diameter that enables AUV and torpedo missions. Uniquely designed to be agnostically deployed from submarines, surface vessels and aircraft, the vehicle platform can serve multiple mission profiles, including torpedo operations, sensor platforms and electronic warfare capabilities, according to a news release. The Skelmir S12, in its AUV configuration, has successfully completed its first exercise and the first production run has already been sold to government customers, with deliveries expected this year. The torpedo variant will be manufactured and delivered next year, according to the release. "With the Skelmir S12, we set out to fill a critical market void – creating a vessel that merges the capabilities of a traditional AUV with the agility and performance of a lightweight torpedo for a fraction of the cost," said Nelson Mills, CEO and co-founder of Vatn Systems. "We've created a platform that delivers superior payload capacity, flexible deployment and unmatched cost-effectiveness compared to existing solutions, and we're excited to be able to produce these at scale in our new manufacturing facility to fill that gap in the market and meet customer demand starting this summer." On Nov. 12, Vatn Systems announced it had raised $16.5 million in seed funding to advance autonomous underwater vehicles for the U.S. military. The funding round, which was oversubscribed from $13 million, was led by DYNE Ventures, with participation from Lockheed Martin Ventures, RTX Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Propeller Ventures, SAIC Ventures, Cubit Capital, Fortitude Ventures and existing investors that include Centre Street Partners, The Veteran Fund, Blue Collective and Decisive Point. In a statement released on Nov. 12, Mills said, "Vatn Systems is on a journey to redefine naval warfare by building low-cost, high-speed, autonomous underwater vehicles that can be deployed at scale as force multipliers. This funding enables us to advance our strategy to expand our team and set up a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility to bring our autonomous underwater vehicles to market next year."