Elbit Systems new deep-diving autonomous vehicle is capable of operating for nearly five days and surveying the ocean floor for everything from underwater mines to damaged infrastructure.

By Hezy Laing

Thousands of meters beneath the ocean’s surface, where sunlight cannot reach and water pressure makes human exploration extremely difficult, an autonomous underwater vehicle can spend days mapping the seabed and searching for hidden objects. This is the environment in which Elbit Systems is expanding its capabilities following its acquisition of Canadian underwater robotics specialist International Submarine Engineering (ISE).

Completed on October 20, 2026, the acquisition brings more than 50 years of underwater robotics experience into Elbit’s growing naval technology portfolio. ISE has delivered more than 250 underwater vehicles to customers in over 20 countries, and one of its most capable platforms is the EXPLORER Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV).

A robot built for the deep

The EXPLORER is an unmanned, torpedo-shaped underwater vehicle designed to travel independently beneath the surface without a connecting cable. Unlike a conventional submarine, it carries no crew and can follow a programmed mission, collecting information and surveying large areas of the seabed while its operators remain aboard a support vessel or at another control location.

Its performance figures are impressive. Depending on its configuration, the EXPLORER can be equipped to operate at depths of up to 6,000 meters, travel as far as 600 kilometers between charges, and remain underwater for as long as 115 hours. That is almost five days of continuous underwater operations without requiring a crewed submarine. These are manufacturer-published maximum figures, and actual performance depends on the vehicle’s configuration, battery capacity and mission requirements.

At 6,000 meters, the surrounding water pressure is approximately 600 times greater than atmospheric pressure at sea level. The EXPLORER must therefore be specially engineered to withstand enormous external forces while protecting its electronics, batteries and sensitive instruments.

Its control system also allows the vehicle to maneuver in confined underwater environments, with a turning radius of approximately five meters and the ability to descend or ascend at angles of up to 60 degrees.

One vehicle, multiple missions

One of the EXPLORER’s most useful features is its modular design. Its central payload section can be adapted to carry different instruments, allowing operators to configure the same vehicle for a variety of missions rather than relying on a separate underwater robot for every task.

These instruments include multibeam sonar, side-scan sonar, underwater cameras, laser scanners and magnetic sensors. Each provides a different way of examining the underwater environment.

Multibeam sonar sends out multiple sound beams to measure the seabed and create detailed maps of its contours. Side-scan sonar produces images of objects lying on the ocean floor, helping operators locate wreckage, debris and potentially dangerous objects.

Other equipment can examine layers beneath the seabed or inspect underwater structures. The advantage is flexibility: a navy could configure the vehicle with sonar equipment to search for underwater mines, while a commercial operator could equip it with different sensors to inspect pipelines or map the seabed. The same basic platform can therefore serve very different customers and missions simply by changing the equipment it carries.

Hunting for underwater threats

The EXPLORER’s military applications are particularly significant in the field of mine countermeasures. Naval mines can threaten warships, commercial shipping and access to important ports, making their detection an essential part of maritime security.

Rather than sending divers or crewed vessels into potentially dangerous areas, navies can deploy an autonomous vehicle to survey the seabed and search for objects that may represent underwater threats. Equipped with appropriate sonar systems, the EXPLORER can help locate and map suspicious objects, allowing specialists to investigate them and determine how to deal with them.

The distinction is important: the EXPLORER is primarily a surveying and detection platform, not necessarily the system that physically destroys or removes a mine.

Its ability to inspect long stretches of underwater infrastructure also has growing strategic importance. Communications cables and energy pipelines are essential to modern economies, and autonomous underwater vehicles can help identify damage, suspicious objects or other potential problems along these vulnerable installations.

Exploring beneath the ice

Another distinctive capability is the EXPLORER’s ability to operate beneath ice-covered waters. This opens up areas that are difficult to reach using conventional surface vessels and creates opportunities for both scientific research and military surveillance.

ISE describes specialized under-ice configurations that include variable ballast, more than 50 kilometers of homing capability, compatibility with gateway buoys, and underwater charging and data transfer. These features help the vehicle operate in environments where returning to a surface support vessel may be difficult.

The EXPLORER can also be recharged in less than three hours using its advertised fast-charging system, reducing the time needed between missions.

A new dimension of Israeli naval technology

The acquisition of ISE gives Elbit Systems an established foothold in underwater autonomous technology, complementing its existing naval systems, which include unmanned surface vessels, sonar, communications, electronic warfare and command-and-control equipment.

Elbit has specifically identified underwater intelligence gathering, mine countermeasures and anti-submarine warfare as areas that it intends to strengthen through the acquisition.

For Israel, the development is particularly interesting because maritime security depends on more than protecting ships and coastal installations. Underwater communications cables, energy infrastructure and potential naval threats all require monitoring beneath the surface. Autonomous underwater vehicles offer navies a way to investigate these environments without constantly exposing divers or crewed vessels to danger.

The EXPLORER demonstrates how far unmanned underwater technology has advanced, combining the endurance to travel hundreds of kilometers with the ability to explore depths that remain inaccessible to most underwater vehicles. For Elbit, it represents an important addition to a defense portfolio increasingly focused on the challenges facing modern navies.