Incidents recorded by the International Maritime Organization show a 41% rise in littoral infiltration attempts between 2023 and 2026.
By Hezy Laing
Coastal nations are facing an unprecedented surge in underwater threats, from Iranian‑supplied submersible drones in the Red Sea to Houthi naval mines around Bab el‑Mandeb and increasingly sophisticated smuggling routes along the Mediterranean.
Incidents recorded by the International Maritime Organization show a 41% rise in littoral infiltration attempts between 2023 and 2026, while NATO’s Maritime Command has warned that shallow‑water zones have become the “new blind spot” for traditional naval surveillance.
This growing vulnerability has pushed navies to seek autonomous systems capable of persistent, low‑cost monitoring, which is the operational gap Israel Aerospace Industries aims to fill with its new mini‑Blue Whale autonomous underwater vehicle.
IAI’s mini‑Blue Whale is a compact derivative of the company’s full‑size Blue Whale AUV, originally unveiled in 2023 by IAI’s ELTA Systems division.
The standard Blue Whale measures nearly 10 meters, carries a multi‑sensor intelligence suite including synthetic‑aperture sonar, and costs between $12 million and $15 million depending on payload configuration.
It has been exported to Greece, Norway, and Italy, and was evaluated by the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet during Red Sea trials in 2024 and 2025.
The newly introduced mini‑Blue Whale is significantly smaller at 4.5 meters and priced at $3.5–4.2 million, making it accessible to smaller navies and coast guards that cannot field large AUV fleets.
According to IAI program director Amit Shapira, the mini‑Blue Whale is optimized for autonomous coastline surveillance, harbor protection, and shallow‑water reconnaissance in depths under 50 meters, with an endurance of up to 72 hours and encrypted satellite or line‑of‑sight data transmission.
IAI has already secured early customers, including Singapore, Finland, and an unnamed Gulf state, all seeking to counter infiltration by divers, underwater drones, and low‑signature vessels.
Israel’s Navy plans to deploy the system alongside its Sa’ar‑6 corvettes to monitor Iranian naval proxies operating fast boats and sub‑surface drones in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf.
The mini‑Blue Whale enters a competitive market dominated by the Kongsberg HUGIN Edge, the Saab AUV62‑AT, and the U.S. REMUS 300, but IAI argues that its platform offers superior endurance‑to‑size ratio and a more advanced ELM‑2250 sonar suite.
Where competitors often require larger launch platforms or lack modular payload flexibility, the mini‑Blue Whale can deploy from small patrol craft and adapt its mission package within hours.
The difference between the mini and regular versions lies primarily in mission profile: the full‑size Blue Whale is built for deep‑water patrols, long‑range ASW detection, and strategic intelligence collection, while the mini‑Blue Whale focuses on tactical coastal defense, rapid deployment, and persistent surveillance of ports, energy terminals, and maritime borders.
As underwater threats multiply across the Middle East, Mediterranean, and Indo‑Pacific, the mini‑Blue Whale offers a scalable, autonomous solution for nations seeking to secure their littoral zones without the cost of a full‑sized AUV fleet.
