Italy's Fincantieri launches underwater drone for defending submarine infrastructure

By Giulia Segreti

ROME (Reuters) -Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri on Thursday unveiled its first underwater drone system, as the group changes its product mix to give more space to the increasingly profitable submarine business. 

The underwater drone, for both military and civil needs, is designed for the protection and maintenance of critical underwater infrastructure - such as pipelines, electrical cables and telecommunications ones. It can also be used for monitoring and safeguarding the marine environment.

"The threat to underwater infrastructure has historically been underestimated. However, it represents a very real threat of hybrid warfare," Fincantieri Chief Executive Pierroberto Folgiero told reporters. 

He added that such threats existed "in the Baltic Sea and increasingly in the Mediterranean, which is the most congested sea in terms of critical infrastructure, but also in the Black Sea".    

The company installed the so-called Dynamic Ecosystem for Enhanced Performance, or DEEP, at an Italian Navy experimentation center in the port town of La Spezia.

The platform includes a network of underwater sensors, a control center for real-time management, a group of underwater vehicles and an AI-based system for data analysis and processing.  

The global market for sea drone systems is projected to reach 18.9 billion euros ($22.04 billion) by 2030 with an average annual growth rate of 15.7%, preliminary data from a report by PwC's Strategy& showed. 

In May, Fincantieri said it expected revenue from its underwater business to double by 2027. 

"The launch of DEEP is tangible proof of our commitment to pushing the boundaries of innovation ever deeper," Folgiero said. 

In the subsea sector, Fincantieri has been working with several Italian companies, including state-controlled aerospace and defence group Leonardo. 

Last year the shipbuilder signed a commercial deal with energy contractor Saipem - which develops specific technologies for subsea drones. 

Earlier on Thursday, Saipem's CEO said that the group would continue developing its technology and would continue pursuing commercial opportunities with Fincantieri, dispelling media reports that it was considering selling its underwater drones business to the shipbuilder.

($1 = 0.8575 euro)

(Reporting by Giulia Segreti in Rome, Additional reporting by Francesca Landini in Milan; Editing by Matthew Lewis)