ViDAR Pod Debuts, V-BAT Gets Improvements, Copperhead Torpedo Announced, GPS III Ready to Launch, Sea Air Space 2025

Shield AI Launches ViDAR Pod for Passive Multi-Domain Surveillance

Shield AI's ViDAR Pod delivers real-time, passive, wide-area surveillance across both land and maritime domains. The system employs advanced, AI-enabled optical sensors that provide robust detection during the day, in low-light conditions, and at night. Its compact design outperforms similar sensors by effectively detecting, locating, and classifying a broad range of high-value threats, including moving dismounts, vehicles, stationary targets, dark vessels (boats with AIS turned off), fast boats, illegal fishing boats, patrol boats, semi-submersibles, and larger ships. Operating without emitting active signals, the ViDAR Pod enables covert, persistent ISR in contested environments, significantly enhancing situational awareness and force protection.

V-BAT Upgrade: Elevating Endurance, Autonomy, and Mission Flexibility

Shield AI's latest V-BAT upgrade delivers a leap in endurance, autonomy, and mission flexibility. Optimized for JP-5 fuel, the heavy-fuel engine extends the drone’s flight time beyond 13 hours while ensuring seamless compatibility with naval and expeditionary operations. Its VTOL capability now operates fully autonomously, enabling precise takeoff and landing—even on moving ships or in confined spaces under challenging conditions. New SATCOM integration facilitates beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) command and control, allowing operators to manage missions from anywhere in the world. Multi-payload integration is now supported, from ViDAR passive surveillance to synthetic aperture radar and electronic warfare. Originally designed as a Group 3 platform, the V-BAT is now delivering Group 4/5 performance levels.

Sea Air Space 2025: A Hub for Defense Innovation

Sea Air Space is North America’s largest maritime defense expo, held from April 6–9, 2025, at National Harbor, Maryland. The event gathers military officials, industry leaders, and tech innovators to showcase the latest in maritime, air, and space technologies. Featuring exhibits, live demonstrations, and industry sessions, the expo highlights emerging threats and next-generation defense capabilities, offering a platform for companies to display cutting-edge technology and solutions.

Anduril Advances Maritime Warfare with Copperhead and Seabed Sentry

Anduril Industries is revolutionizing maritime defense with the launch of two new systems. The Copperhead family introduces high-speed, software-defined torpedo capabilities, with models Copperhead-100 and Copperhead-500 offering varied payload capacities and ranges. Designed for integration into autonomous platforms like the Dive-XL, Copperhead empowers unmanned systems to deliver precision underwater strikes rapidly and cost-effectively, marking a shift from legacy torpedo designs.

Complementing this is Seabed Sentry, an AI-enabled network of mobile, cable-less undersea sensor nodes. Engineered for persistent, real-time seafloor monitoring, Seabed Sentry leverages Anduril’s Lattice AI platform to bridge connectivity gaps in the deep ocean. Its reusable design, featuring superior endurance and a depth rating exceeding 500 meters, supports missions such as port security, seabed surveys, and anti-submarine warfare by delivering critical situational awareness directly from the underwater battlespace.

Tying these innovations together, Anduril is set to open its new large-scale production facility at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, in Q4 2025, according to its job listings. This state-of-the-art facility will enable the production of its Dive-LD family of autonomous underwater vehicles at a capacity exceeding 200 hulls per year and will serve as the production location for the new Seabed Sentry.

https://anduril.com/article/anduril-unveils-copperhead-a-new-era-of-autonomous-undersea-dominance/
https://anduril.com/article/anduril-introduces-seabed-sentry/

Lockheed Martin Completes 8th GPS III Satellite

Lockheed Martin has completed its eighth GPS III satellite, now in Florida for final spring launch preparations. This next-generation satellite offers three times the accuracy, up to eight times enhanced anti-jamming capabilities, and a new L1C civil signal for better interoperability, bolstering global positioning, navigation, and timing services. As part of a broader modernization program aiming to build up to 32 GPS III/IIIF satellites, this milestone advances both military and civilian PNT applications, ensuring resilient, high-precision support for billions of users worldwide.