BeeX, a Singapore-based developer of autonomous underwater drones, has been named a winner of the Mine Countermeasures Modernization Prize Challenge, advancing the company toward system integration with the United States Navy. The challenge, organised by the U.S. Department of War Innovation Unit together with the U.S. Navy, evaluated mature commercial technologies capable of reacquiring and neutralising bottom and volume mine threats within the water column.

What BeeX demonstrated

Using modular, communication-resilient uncrewed systems, BeeX demonstrated a complete reacquire-to-engage kill chain over high-latency, low-bandwidth, over-the-horizon links — while operating from a safe standoff distance and independent of a dedicated host platform. The company’s drones also reacquired moored mines untethered, underlining the reliability of its autonomous acoustic and perception stack.

Unlike traditional ROVs that depend on manual remote control and continuous video-feed monitoring, BeeX’s platforms operate precisely in both untethered and tethered modes, using their full sensor suite to independently localise and reacquire mine-like contacts across large search areas.

From commercial offshore to defence

The defence capability builds on BeeX’s track record in commercial offshore operations, where its autonomy stack was trained on fourteen years of proprietary operational data for detecting anomalies quickly and reliably in demanding subsea conditions.

“Our drones were initially built for demanding commercial offshore work, which pushed our engineering teams to design intelligent, stable platforms that can handle rough underwater conditions. That design has carried over directly to defence missions,” said Grace Chia, CEO and Co-founder of BeeX. “As underwater security becomes a growing strategic priority, we look forward to giving defence agencies a rapid, reliable, and cost-effective way to counter mine threats while keeping crews out of harm’s way.”

Why it matters for the wider subsea industry

The award is another sign that military-grade missions are increasingly being delegated to commercial-off-the-shelf autonomous platforms rather than bespoke naval systems. For the supply chain around AUVs and ROVs — wet-mate and dry-mate connectors, penetrators, cable assemblies and junction boxes — it reinforces the trend toward vehicles that undock, work and return without human intervention, where every connector interface must survive repeated unmanned mating cycles, pressure cycling and long endurance deployments.

RV POWER GROUP manufactures wet-mate and dry-mate underwater connectors, penetrators and cable assemblies rated to 7,000 metres for AUVs, ROVs and subsea sensor systems. For a cross-reference against an existing vehicle interface, contact [email protected].

Source: Unmanned Systems Technology — Autonomous Underwater Drones Secure Mine Countermeasures Award (8 October 2026)