Robotics company SYOS Aerospace plans to leave other manufacturers of uncrewed surface vessels (USVs or ‘drone boats’) in its wake by integrating Starboard Maritime Intelligence’s remote sensing capability and intelligence platform into the SYOS family of USVs, ranging from its six metre multi-role USV up to a 24-metre uncrewed offshore patrol vessel.

SYOS CEO Sam Vye said this further cements the industry-proven USVs as a pivotal solution for maritime domain awareness.

New Zealand based SYOS and Starboard have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to integrate SYOS’ USV ground control station software with Starboard’s intelligence platform.

Both companies are internationally successful with SYOS’s United Kingdom production facility being one of the world’s largest producers of USVs and Starboard’s technology being used by leading security, defence and intelligence organisations across APAC, Europe and the USA.    

Starboard Maritime Intelligence offers sophisticated remote sensing technology for vessels      and data fusion capabilities that are invaluable for defence, border control and surveillance for customs, fisheries and NGOs.

“Starboard marries advanced data science and multiple information sources with intuitive web-based software to deliver a secure common operating picture for the maritime domain,” said Vye.

“For example, Starboard’s technology can pick up if a foreign vessel not wanting to be detected has turned off its Automatic Identification System, the tracking system that enables ships to automatically exchange essential data such as identification, position, course and speed with nearby vessels and shore stations.”

Vye said Starboard’s systems will interoperate with SYOS’s proprietary AAIMS architecture –Autonomous Augmented Intelligence Mission System—a modular software and hardware integration suite that allows its uncrewed platforms to adapt rapidly to evolving operational needs.

“AAIMS is more than a control system. It enables multi-domain mission planning and intuitive operator control across all vehicles.”

Starboard CEO Trent Fulcher says his company’s AI-powered technology safeguards the world’s oceans and critical subsea infrastructure.

“Amid escalating maritime security risks, including undersea cable sabotage, illegal marine activity, and contested trade routes, Starboard delivers the next generation of maritime domain awareness.

“Starboard’s AI platform fuses over one billion maritime data points daily across AIS, satellite imagery, radar, oceanographic, and autonomous sensors to detect suspicious activity, highlight risks to subsea infrastructure, and issue real-time alerts that enable operators to act before incidents occur.

“Our mission is clear: to give nations and operators the intelligence edge needed to secure maritime borders, assets, and trade in a rapidly evolving threat environment.

“Starboard is addressing one of the world’s most urgent security challenges, of protecting oceans, trade, and critical infrastructure in real time. Already trusted by government agencies and commercial operators across the Pacific, this connection with SYOS will add to our momentum and technology edge to become the global standard for ocean intelligence.”

SYOS’s partnership with Starboard Maritime follows hot on the heels of its purchase of uncrewed underwater vehicle (UUV) developer Bay Dynamics to complement SYOS’s autonomous uncrewed air, land and sea vehicles.

Vye said the Bay Dynamics acquisition boosted SYOS’ capabilities as a multi-domain uncrewed vehicles company to now provide customers with subsurface autonomous uncrewed vehicles to reduce risk, reduce cost and optimise operations.

In April this year SYOS won a £30 million contract to supply the UK government with a fleet of cutting-edge drones. In May SYOS was named PwC Hi-Tech Company of the Year at the 2025 NZ Hi-Tech Awards.