Over the last 10 years, Ocean Infinity has built up a deep knowledge of the subsea domain – operating its fleet of lean crewed ships equipped with autonomous and remotely operated vehicles on projects for clients in the offshore energy sector.
It has seen considerable change over that decade due to various technology and market drivers. In the words of Alex Fox, Commercial Director at Ocean Infinity: “Advancements in technology have transformed the world of subsea data gathering – we’re collecting more data than ever before and turning it into meaningful insights much faster.”
Indeed, it’s now widely recognised that the subsea environment holds the key to success across a range of economic, geopolitical and social issues. Those with access to high quality subsea data and information will have a greater ability to manage or influence what's going on in that environment, which is critical for nations around the world.
I recently sat down with Alex to dive deeper into this topic, getting his insights into how interest in the subsea domain has evolved within the context of Defence and National Security, and the future opportunities that will emerge.
Bringing commercial capabilities to defence
It’s clear that rising geopolitical tensions have moved the need to access and exploit the subsea intelligence cycle up governments’ priority list, leading to new demands for underwater data to help inform nations’ wider national security strategies.
This offers opportunities for Ocean Infinity to apply its commercial expertise to the needs of defence customers, as Alex explains: “At a time of increased threat and demand for maritime intelligence data, we're able to bring the technologies that we use every day to meet urgent defence needs. Whether it’s coastal security, critical infrastructure monitoring or supporting national resilience – there’s a real opportunity for commercial technologies to have a meaningful impact.”
“At a time of increased threat and demand for maritime intelligence data, we're able to bring the technologies that we use every day to meet urgent defence needs.”Alex Fox, Commercial Director, Ocean Infinity
This idea of applying commercial technologies to a Defence setting is something that the UK government is actively looking at. The recent Strategic Defence Review references the Royal Navy working with “commercial partners to develop enhanced maritime surveillance through existing and novel capabilities”.
For example, there’s a valuable role for industry to play in reducing the burden on government operators when it comes to managing and analysing subsea intelligence data. As Alex says: “Managing maritime data is really complex and commercial companies like ours that have been doing it for years can act as a skills reserve. We’ve got the tools and expertise to deliver clear outcomes and enable government to focus its time and energy on high-priority classified activities.”
“There's an opportunity for government to leverage the investment that commercial companies have made in their capabilities.”Alex Fox, Commercial Director, Ocean Infinity
This notion extends to specific technologies such as robotics, advanced navigation systems, AI and machine learning that are already widespread in commercial maritime operations. Blending commercial and defence operating models offers a way to bring cutting-edge capabilities into service much quicker, thereby delivering greater value along with an operational advantage.
“There's an opportunity for government to leverage the investment that commercial companies have made in their capabilities,” says Alex. “As well as gaining access to powerful new tech, working more closely with commercial partners means you benefit as those technologies keep evolving – it’s not a one-off upgrade.”
Putting theory into practice
When it comes to enabling an operational response given the evolving subsea threat landscape, there are several different capabilities involved. Alex references the need for powerful detection capabilities – with the right sensors providing real-time indicators and warnings, supplemented by analytics technologies that deliver maritime awareness and intelligence. The low-latency transmission of high-resolution underwater data from seabed to shore to enable real-time analysis and dynamic decision-making is fundamental.
This is an area that we recently addressed with Ocean Infinity as part of a joint live demonstration. In June 2025, we deployed a lean-crewed vessel to conduct underwater survey operations using a range of sensors and platforms, securely collecting and transferring multi-domain data insights across entities and dynamically re-tasking a vessel to analyse potential threats based on initial intelligence.
Combining Ocean Infinity’s operational readiness and data handling with BAE Systems’ technical expertise and understanding of defence requirements, we demonstrated our joint ability to deliver a persistent subsea surveillance solution as part of a layered capability.
As Alex explains, “The true value was in how the data was managed and the speed at which it was transferred from the vessel, through our network, and into BAE Systems’ secure environment – enabling us to act on it in near real-time.”
Flexibility is required in maritime operations, particularly when thinking about threat response. Ultimately, it all comes back to the ability to gather data and generate intelligence at speed in order to inform and accelerate the decision-making process.
Opportunities for collaboration
Our joint demonstration provided a tangible example of how gaining an advantage in the subsea domain can be best achieved through collaboration. In this case, we combined complementary expertise, capabilities and ways of working to deliver an outcome that’s more than the sum of its parts.
As Alex explains: “BAE Systems is a strong complement to us. Partnering with organisations that have deep market and customer heritage – which BAE Systems does, alongside its multi-domain system experience – gives us insights into defence customers’ needs that we wouldn’t have had on our own. At the same time, we bring the agility of a commercial company and can broaden BAE Systems’ access to technologies that are proven in the subsea environment. It’s a win-win.”
“There’s an enormous amount to be gained by sharing insights, risk signals and threat indicators between nations that have shared interests.”Alex Fox, Commercial Director, Ocean Infinity
The other interesting aspect of collaboration in this space is that between nations. Given the huge pool of subsea data being collected, could nations work together to overcome cross-border barriers and enhance data sharing?
“Definitely”, is Alex’s answer. “There’s an enormous amount to be gained by sharing insights, risk signals and threat indicators between nations that have shared interests, for example across AUKUS countries or NATO. What happens in one nation's waters can affect another, so if you really want to understand subsea risks, you need to understand what's happening in adjacent areas. That makes multinational collaboration really important.”
It's certainly an interesting notion. While there will always need to be a balance between what data is defined as sovereign and what can be shared, viewpoints are changing and will likely continue to change over the coming years. Ultimately, no one nation can do it alone. That highlights a real need to work out how to share information more effectively – for the benefit of collective and individual resilience in this new era of subsea threats.