Congressman Courtney Christens Persistent Unmanned Acoustic Surveillance Vessel Outpost to Highlight Trilateral AUKUS Pillar II Success

(Oxon Hill, MD – April 8, 2025) – Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02), joined by Australian Ambassador Dr. Kevin Rudd, ThayerMahan Chairman and CEO Mike Connor, and Ocius CEO Dr. Robert Dane, christened a persistent unmanned undersea surveillance vessel that supports the objectives of AUKUS Pillar II, part of the trilateral security partnership between the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia.

The vessel, Groton, CT-based ThayerMahan’s Outpost TM001 delivers scalable wide-area maritime surveillance capability that mitigates a rapidly growing undersea threat. Outpost, which has been called ‘The future of our Navy’, augments traditional undersea warfare assets. It can be fielded in a fraction of the construction time, for a fraction of the cost.

Australia’s Ocius Technology Limited, based in Alexandria, manufactures Outpost’s 22-foot hull that is powered by solar, wind, and wave energy. The uncrewed surface vessel carries ThayerMahan’s deep-towed passive acoustic array and unrivaled processing technology, that provide near real-time actionable contact reports from anywhere around the globe.

Courtney referred to ThayerMahan Chairman and CEO Mike Connor, a retired U.S Navy Vice Admiral and Commander of the U.S. Sub Force, as a “prophet” for his early efforts to explain the need for and capabilities of unmanned vessels when he appeared before Courtney’s Seapower Subcommittee while at the Pentagon.

“Back then we didn’t know what [Mike Connor] was talking about, but obviously he was a prophet and ahead of his time,” Courtney told a crowd of military and industrial leaders during the christening. “Obviously the success of ThayerMahan, in collaboration not just locally in the submarine capital of the world in southeastern Connecticut and Rhode Island and now internationally, is another example of just how on target he and his amazing team of millennials and GenZers are. They are doing important work in ways that no one could imagine even recently.”

Outpost provides an immediate and rapid increase in Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) surveillance capacity. This creates a force multiplier for the aircraft, ships and submarines traditionally used for the mission, and it creates a path to success for AUKUS Pillar II.

Australian Ambassador to the United States, Dr Kevin Rudd, said: “The Outpost system reflects innovation writ large. It is a deployable, flexible, all-purpose platform powered by wind, solar and wave with multiple applications for civilian and military uses.”

Robert Dane, CEO and Executive Director of Ocius Technology, said the partnership with ThayerMahan represents a blending that will benefit multiple nations. "Our focus now is to work together to deliver this capability to a number of countries around the world supporting AUKUS, but also other countries,” Dane said, noting the rapidly changing geopolitical environment. “We have two companies with similar ideologies and an agile ability to deliver and that is what we are all about.”

Connor complimented the Ocius vessel design and manufacturing as “best-of-class", and summarized the relationship between the companies. “They bring best-of-breed vessels, and we bring best-of-breed sonar together in one package.”

Outpost® is an autonomous, mobile long-dwell system that meets top level Navy requirements for Deep Water Passive Surveillance. With production based in southeastern Connecticut, ThayerMahan has drawn top talent to the region and plans to fill many new highly skilled job openings in 2025. ThayerMahan has committed to meet growing surveillance needs with plans to double manufacturing floor capacity. ThayerMahan is positioned to have a fleet of unmanned autonomous systems in service within two years.

About ThayerMahan®

ThayerMahan, Inc. is a maritime technology company dedicated to providing its government and commercial clients with turn-key autonomous marine solutions, including deployment, operations, data gathering, and analysis services, using state-of-the-art acoustic and electronic sensors integrated on a variety of host platforms tailored to specific mission criteria. The Company is headquartered in Groton, CT with additional locations in Lowell, MA, Virginia Beach, and Arlington, VA. For more information, please visit www.thayermahan.com or contact directly at sales@thayermahan.com.

About Ocius

Ocius Technology Ltd. Delivers innovative autonomous solutions for persistent maritime surveillance. Their new generation of USVs power large payloads, roam widely, and stay at sea for months at a time. Ocius USVs offer economic and operational advantages over conventional methods in a multitude of industries. Utilising solar, wind and wave power, these vessels can autonomously monitor designated areas for lengths of time. For more information, please visit Ocius.com.au or contact directly at contact@ocius.com.au

Media contacts:

ThayerMahan

Dr. Kevin Lopes VP, Marketing, ThayerMahan, Inc. M: +1 860 287 3563 E: klopes@thayermahan.com

Ocius Technology Ltd.

Mr. Ian Milliner Chief Operations Officer Ocius Technology Ltd M: +61 419 045 072 E: ian.milliner@ocius.com.au

Australian Ambassador Dr Kevin Rudd, Congressman Joe Courtney, Ocius CEO Dr Robert Dane, ThayerMahan Chairman and CEO Mike Conner