Under the agreement, Shintoa will market, sell and support Sea Machines’ full portfolio of unmanned surface vessel autonomy and commercial ship optimization products to the Japanese market. The partnership establishes a formal in-country channel to deliver Sea Machines’ autonomy technology across both commercial and defense applications.

Founded in 1952 and headquartered in Tokyo, Shintoa has built a longstanding role introducing advanced international technologies into Japan’s industrial and maritime sectors. With a nationwide presence across major regions including Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and Fukuoka, the company provides the infrastructure required to support deployment and lifecycle servicing of complex marine systems

“It is an honor to be working with the Shintoa team, who has facilitated groundbreaking activity in serving the Japanese Ministry of Defense and JMSDF” said Phil Bourque, Vice President of Global Sales of Sea Machines Robotics. “This partnership is key to assisting US allies invest in asymmetric capability, an effort that requires presence, integration, and long-term commitment.”

Through this partnership, Sea Machines’ autonomy systems, including the SM300 family, will be made accessible to Japanese operators seeking to expand mission capability, reduce crew exposure, and deploy intelligent vessel operations at scale.

“We are excited to introduce Sea Machines’ advanced autonomous products to the Japanese defense and commercial markets. We look forward to building a long and robust relationship with Sea Machines,” said Andy Ogiwara, Executive Officer C.O.O. of Shintoa Corporation.

This agreement marks a significant step in Sea Machines’ expansion across the Asia Pacific region, building on the company’s prior operational deployment of its SELKIE USV in Subic Bay and reinforcing its commitment to delivering proven, defense ready autonomy solutions to allied maritime markets. In January, Sea Machines appointed a Business Development Manager, Penny Wen, based in Taiwan. Penny is charged with leading business expansion throughout Asia.

About Sea Machines Robotics
Based in the tech hub of Boston with a global presence, Sea Machines Robotics, Inc. builds autonomous vessel software and systems that increase the performance, capability, and efficiency of naval and commercial vessels.
Learn more at www.sea-machines.com

About Shintoa Corporation
Founded in 1952 and headquartered in Tokyo, Shintoa Corporation is a specialized trading house focused on aerospace, marine, and defense technologies. The company provides nationwide distribution, integration, and technical support for advanced industrial systems across Japan.

Contact: Phil Bourque, VP of Global Sales, pbourque@sea-machines.com

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The mission evaluated autonomous vessel / unmanned vessel operations in the same Indo-Pacific coastal environment where distributed maritime systems could be deployed. The operating area was later used in the distributed maritime autonomy vignette presented during Creative Disruptors in the Desert 2026, where U.S. Congressional and DOW stakeholders observed a mission scenario involving a forward-deployed unmanned surface vessel operating off the Philippine coast. 

Strategic Context in the West Philippine Sea 

The West Philippine Sea forms part of the South China Sea, one of the most contested maritime regions in the Indo-Pacific. Coast guard patrols, maritime militia activity, and territorial disputes have increased demand for persistent maritime domain awareness across large coastal areas. For the United States and the Philippines, monitoring activity across these waters requires scalable systems capable of maintaining presence without expanding resources for crewed patrol fleets. Autonomous vessels provide a method for increasing range and extending persistent maritime coverage. 

Unmanned Surface Vessel SELKIE operating in real-world maritime traffic off Botolan, Philippines.

Tropical Winter 100 USV Mission 

Tropical Winter 100 evaluated SELKIE’s endurance, navigation performance, and autonomous vessel system operation during unmanned operations in Philippine coastal waters. 

The mission followed a 100-nautical-mile unmanned route between Subic Bay and the west coast of Botolan. SELKIE departed Subic Bay as an unmanned surface vessel while operators monitored the vessel remotely through the autonomy interface located miles away in Olongapo.  

Operating in Sea State 4, the autonomous vessel maintained a cruising speed of approximately 11 knots with sprint speeds of up to 30 knots, and completed the mission over roughly 13 hours. During the voyage the USV executed long range autonomous route following while autonomously tracking and trailing potential vessels of interest, in addition to obstacle detection, and collision avoidance while navigating through typical coastal vessel traffic near the approach to Subic Bay. 

USV Operations in the Indo-Pacific 

Tropical Winter 100 demonstrated how unmanned surface vessels  can operate in real maritime traffic and environmental conditions in the Indo-Pacific. Conducted in the same waters later used during the Creative Disruptors in the Desert vignette, the mission showed how USVs can support persistent maritime domain awareness and distributed maritime operations in regions such as the West Philippine Sea. 

What’s Next 

SELKIE will continue field demonstrations over the coming months, including integration of mission payloads, effectors, and command-and-control (C2) interfaces across customer use cases. These efforts are focused on expanding operational capability and validating system performance across a broader set of mission profiles. 

For organizations evaluating unmanned surface vessel (USV) capability for maritime operations, Sea Machines is engaging with partners to demonstrate how autonomous vessel systems can be applied in operational contexts. 

To discuss demonstration opportunities or integration use cases, contact sales@sea-machines.com. 

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Hosted by the Creative Defense Foundation in collaboration with AUVSI, the event convened senior Department of Defense leadership, acquisition executives, Congressional defense appropriators, and industry leaders to evaluate mature, deployable technologies shaping the future of American defense capability. 

Sea Machines’ role formed part of a multi-domain vignette integrating eight advanced autonomy and sensing companies into a unified mission narrative spanning land, air, and sea. 

A Live Indo-Pacific Autonomy Demonstration 

Within that broader scenario, Sea Machines executed a live distributed maritime operation connecting a forward-deployed unmanned surface vessel in the Philippines with operators in La Quinta trailing and prosecuting a suspicious contact outside Subic Bay, while stakeholders observed live in California. 

From within the United States, operators coordinated command of the vessel in real time as mission control was transitioned between ground stations in La Quinta, CA and Subic Bay. The SM300 software is also capable of “intercept” behavior, whereby operators can command the vessel to autonomously calculate and execute a converging course against a moving contact, dynamically adapting to target maneuvering and surrounding maritime traffic while maintaining collision avoidance and navigational compliance. 

Drop in Autonomy Kits  

The Sea Machines solution showcased is operationally ready and actively available for deployment. Designed and engineered by Sea Machines, the drop in autonomy kit provides end users a rapid capability to convert existing boats with Sea Machines tech within 10-20 hours. The pre-rigged kits reduce field engineering requirements.

The demonstration highlighted: 

• Secure remote supervisory control across long-distance links 

• Objective-based mission execution rather than direct teleoperation 

• Real-time perception, navigation, and collision avoidance 

• Immediate re-tasking with dynamic route recalculation 

• Scalable control of distributed unmanned maritime assets 

Why It Matters 

Operational vignettes such as those executed at Disruptors in the Desert provide government stakeholders with direct exposure to live systems operating within realistic mission contexts. These are not conceptual briefings. They are demonstrations of integrated capability under operational narrative. 

By controlling a forward-deployed vessel in the Indo-Pacific from within the United States, Sea Machines demonstrated a scalable model for distributed maritime operations. This approach expands operational reach, reduces risk to crewed platforms, and enables persistent presence without proportional manpower growth. 

As global maritime competition intensifies, American advantage depends on fielded, interoperable systems that are ready to deploy and scale. The autonomy demonstrated in La Quinta reflects a mature, operational capability engineered to support U.S. and allied maritime missions wherever distributed unmanned presence is required. 

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Carved from the shipbuilding space in 2015, Sea Machines Robotics has spent the past decade developing and deploying the world’s leading marine autonomy across fleets operating on most oceans. Over that period, the company has invested more than $55 million in venture-backed capital to develop, field, and harden a fully integrated autonomy stack. This investment addressed one of the most technically complex challenge of unmanned surface vessels such as Modular Attack Surface Combatant (MASC): reliable software–hardware integration at scale. Having completed the difficult work up front, Sea Machines is now positioned to rapidly integrate mature, field-proven autonomy into purpose-built autonomous platforms. Today, the company applies its deep shipbuilding roots to deliver a purpose-built autonomous surface ship engineered for modern naval operations. 

Introducing the STEAMRACER-class autonomous surface ship, purpose-built to meet the Navy’s immediate and future fleet requirements for fully unmanned maritime operations. Designed around our hardened, AI-enabled remote command architecture, the platform delivers high speed, extended endurance, modular open-deck payload capacity, and a secure onboard data environment to support distributed operations at scale. 

While engineered from inception for persistent unmanned execution, STEAMRACER retains the flexibility to operate in a limited, short-duration manned configuration when mission requirements dictate – providing operational flexibility without compromising its unmanned-first design. 

Florida-forged, STEAMRACER integrates mature autonomy with proven U.S. shipbuilding capacity through partnerships with St. Johns Ship Building, TOTE Services, Ring Power, Incat Crowther, and EMI-W&O reinforcing the President’s Executive Order to restore American maritime dominance and strengthen the domestic industrial base. To meet the Navy’s resilient and robust communications standards, Sierra Nevada Corporation will provide its Maritime Advanced Secure Transmission (MAST) solution, an open, scalable architecture backed by proven secure communications and cybersecurity expertise.

Aligned with Navy leadership’s call to expand MUSV production, accelerate the scaling of unmanned capability, and rapidly field maritime robotic and autonomous systems, STEAMRACER delivers a ready-now, America-First solution. The defining attribute: PROVEN capability. STEAMRACER provides validated unmanned-first capability that is operationally tested, industrially grounded, strategically aligned, and prepared to scale at the pace required for the Indo-Pacific fight. 

In an era defined by America’s pacing-threat competition with China, our Nation and our Navy cannot afford protracted development programs that delay transition, escalate cost, and fail to field capability. The strategic environment demands operational mass, speed, and scale, not prolonged development without delivery. Others prototype. We deliver proven autonomy at the pace required for deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, or wherever in the world it will be needed. 

Sea Machines stands ready. 

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Sea Machines now offers two SMLink APIs that support a full spectrum of missions:

• SMLink Streaming-API delivers real-time vessel telemetry and data feeds to external systems.
• SMLink Control-API grants select partners the ability to command SM300 autonomy functions directly from third-party mission software.

“We’ve been listening to end-user customers and military procurement program offices globally, and we are pleased to continue to contribute to building a customer-first product and company. While our product has always had an open architecture, we’re now providing the keys for others to integrate. We hereby invite and challenge others to collaborate and build with us.” — Phil Bourque, VP of Global Sales, Sea Machines

The SMLink APIs are available with both updated SM300 models: the SM300-SP, tailored for fast, attritable USVs and programs prioritizing volume and efficiency, and the SM300-NG, built for complex, high-specification projects aboard classed vessels.

With more than 200 SM300 deliveries across 20 countries, Sea Machines has established itself as a proven leader in defense-ready marine autonomy. The SM300 is a software enabled edge computing system that fuses with mission management tools while delivering both low-level vessel control and higher-order autonomous behaviors, even in GPS or communications-denied environments.

Headquartered in the United States with offices in Europe, Sea Machines supports naval and defense customers worldwide.

About Sea Machines Robotics

Based in the tech hub of Boston with a global presence, Sea Machines Robotics, Inc. builds autonomous vessel software and systems that increase the performance, capability, and efficiency of naval and commercial vessels. Learn more at www.sea-machines.com

Contact: Phil Bourque, VP of Global Sales, pbourque@sea-machines.com

Download press release here.

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SM300-SP is a special purpose hardware version of Sea Machines’ autonomy systems, built for the emerging fleets of attritable sUSVs and for those not requiring Classed-approved hardware.

SM300-NG is a new generation autonomy system that provides 200% more computing power in a smaller size form-factor.  The SM300NG continues Sea Machines’ commitment to Class-approved marine products and is available in both digital-only and digital plus analog I/O variants.

SMLink Stream/Control-APIs are two new APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) now available to allow authorized third parties to stream data from SM300 platforms, as well as control the autonomy system.  These APIs further Sea Machines commitment to open architecture and system interoperability.

FLEETVIEWER is an online fleet visualization platform that enables an easy way to view, capture, and use real-time vessel-born data, including streaming imagery.

STORMRUNNER USV is an all-new 8-meter length HDPE unmanned surface vessel, designed to deliver high-performance and high reliability on water for defense customers. STORMRUNNER has a 40-knot top speed and gives over 500 nautical miles of range carrying 1,100 lbs of payload.  Equipped with the SM300-SP and fully integrated with sensors and communications, STORMRUNNER is Sea Machines’ second USV design, following on the 7-meter “SELKIE.”

Since 2017, Sea Machines has focused on building the most advanced maritime autonomy for both naval and commercial vessels. “Sea Machines was built around commercial market needs, which simply put, means that the products must deliver immense value and reliability.  This fits perfectly with Government customers who are increasingly demanding deployable, proven systems.  The SM300 is now operating within broad fleets of unmanned naval boats, and these operators benefit by having a hardened autonomy foundation that also enables rapid development on requirements that emerge from the quickly evolving threat environments.”  Said Founder and CTO Michael Johnson.

CEO Chip Wasson said, “We are delighted to introduce these new products that provide true asymmetric advantage for US and allied fleets. Our mission has been to deliver superior naval and maritime technologies to those who protect, defend and work on water. Our team has worked relentlessly to deliver on this commitment with these new products.”

About Sea Machines Robotics
Based in the tech hub of Boston with a global presence, Sea Machines Robotics, Inc. builds autonomous vessel software and systems that increase the performance, capability, and efficiency of naval and commercial vessels.  Their flagship product, the SM300, is a time-perfected edge computing autonomy system that has earned the respect of this fast-growing global market of unmanned boats and autonomy-enabled ships. Learn more at www.sea-machines.com

Contact: Phil Bourque, VP of Global Sales, pbourque@sea-machines.com

Download press release here.

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Sea Machines delivers the core autonomy layer that enables precise navigation, real-time obstacle avoidance, and seamless integration with cooperative mission frameworks like Scientific Systems’ Collaborative Mission Autonomy. By leveraging the Sea Machines open architecture and software APIs, VENOM gains the ability to operate in teams, adapt to changing conditions, and maximize the ability to operate in contested environments with limited risk.

As the premier autonomy provider for uncrewed surface vehicle manufacturers, Sea Machines offers a commercial solution that is ready for serial production of over 100x units per month and is integration-friendly. Our modular approach to vessel interfacing provides a proven foundation for builders and integrators alike—accelerating development, enabling mission readiness, and reducing time to deployment.

We’re proud to support the VENOM USV and welcome domestic and international collaborations with teams building bold new capabilities at sea.

Contacts us at sales@sea-machines for more.

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The ALPV, also known as the Sea Specter, is a 65-foot (19.75-meter) semi-submersible unmanned surface vessel (USV) engineered for stealth logistics operations. Drawing design inspiration from low-profile, narcotics-smuggling craft, the ALPV offers extremely low visual, radar, and infrared signatures, making it an ideal platform for contested maritime zones. The vessel’s form factor and semi-submersibility enable discreet transport of high-value payloads with minimal detectability.

The vessel can carry between 2,000 and 4,627 kilograms of cargo over distances up to 2,200 nautical miles (4,074 km) at a cruising speed of 14.8 km/h, powered by a 230-horsepower Cummins diesel engine. The internal payload compartment spans 8.84 m in length, offering substantial volume for military resupply or mission equipment.

Sea Machines was selected following evaluation as the supplier of autonomous command and control capabilities for the ALPV, via our SM300 Autonomous Command and Control system. This system enables long-range, line-of-sight and over-the-horizon remote operations, autonomous navigation, collision avoidance, and situational awareness in contested environments. These capabilities are essential for a vessel intended to operate far from support in communications denied environments or high-risk maritime zones.

The ALPV has undergone extensive field testing since 2023, evaluated in Project Convergence Capstone 4, a major joint and multinational exercise hosted by the U.S. Army. 

Sea Machines is proud to contribute proven autonomy solutions to this advanced platform and remains committed to supporting the U.S. Marine Corps’ evolving needs for operational resilience, logistics reach, and unmanned capability in peer-contested domains. For more information about the SM300 Autonomous Command and Control system, visit: https://sea-machines.com/products/sm300-autonomous-command-control/

Contact:
Phil Bourque, VP of Global Sales
pbourque@sea-machines.com

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