US Navy validates counter unmanned submarine tech in Lanternfish 2026 exercise Ultra Maritime and Anduril demonstrated undersea autonomous threat detection, tracking and classification in the exercise. Read Next: US neighbour could gain domestic engine overhaul capability for future fightersUltra Maritime demonstrated a counter-unmanned underwater vehicle (C-UUV) capability during the US Navy’s Lanternfish 2026 exercise. The demonstration served as a proof of concept for the company`s Sea Sphere deployable sonar system. The sonar was able to detect and classify autonomous undersea threats in a realistic port protection mission setting. Operationally unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) have grown in relevance across multiple navies worldwide. They can conduct surveillance, mine-laying, and infrastructure reconnaissance with minimal crew risk. Countering them requires passive and active acoustic sensing, signal processing, and rapid classification. What happened at Lanternfish 2026 Lanternfish is a multilateral naval exercise focussesing on critical undersea infrastructure protection and emerging autonomous vehicle threats. During the exercise, Sea Spear consistently detected, tracked and classified medium- and large-diameter UUVs. The demonstration validated the systems’ ability to provide persistent acoustic sensing while transmitting track data to undersea command centers worldwide. When integrated with Anduril’s Seabed Sentry, Sea Spear forms part of a distributed autonomous undersea network built for rapid deployment and scalable production. The system can be discreetly deployed from both crewed and uncrewed platforms, delivering persistent underwater sensing across remote regions, maritime choke points, and strategically significant waterways. Sea Spear is configurable as either a permanent installation or an attritable asset. More from Military See AllThe technical problem C-UUV systems must solve Detecting a UUV is fundamentally different from detecting a crewed submarine. UUVs run quieter, operate at varied depths, and can be programmed for evasive behavior. Acoustic signatures are weaker and harder to classify against background ocean noise. A C-UUV system must differentiate between a threat