Develogic selected as a partner in EU-funded SWAT-SHOAL research programme

Develogic has been selected as a partner in SWAT-SHOAL, a research programme funded under the European Defence Fund (EDF) to develop swarm and teaming capabilities for manned and unmanned underwater vehicles. The programme, valued at €25 million and coordinated by Navantia, brings together 20 organisations across 11 European nations — among them Atlas Elektronik, Fraunhofer, Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, Naval Group, Saab Kockums, and Fincantieri NexTech.

Selected by the European Commission under the EDF 2022 call in the Underwater Warfare category, SWAT-SHOAL — an acronym for Swarm and Teaming Operation of Manned and Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Shoal — formally kicked off in Brussels in January 2024. The programme will run for 36 months, with Develogic contributing acoustic communication and underwater navigation technologies to enable coordinated operations between submarine crews and autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) formations.

The central challenge SWAT-SHOAL addresses is interoperability: enabling submarines, surface vessels, divers, and AUVs to operate as a coherent, adaptive unit in contested underwater environments. For that to work, the acoustic communication infrastructure connecting the elements of the shoal must be reliable, low-latency, and survivable — conditions that demand precision engineering across the full signal chain, from subsea node to command interface.

Develogic’s contribution draws on more than two decades of hydroacoustic modem and telemetry development. The company’s HAM series acoustic modems and modular data architecture have been deployed in oceanographic, industrial, and defence programmes across multiple ocean basins. Within SWAT-SHOAL, that experience is applied to one of the most demanding communication environments in defence: multi-node underwater networks operating in dynamic, acoustically complex conditions.

David Schirm, CEO of Gabler Group AG, of which Develogic is a subsidiary, has spoken to the broader strategic significance of this class of capability: the growing demand for advanced communication and data systems in maritime and subsea operations is a structural trend, not a cyclical one. SWAT-SHOAL positions Develogic at the leading edge of that demand, working alongside Europe’s established prime defence contractors to shape how future naval forces operate below the surface.

The programme sits within Develogic’s Naval Defence and Security sector, where the company’s systems are already in operational use for submarine communication, underwater navigation, and critical infrastructure monitoring. Participation in a European Defence Fund programme of this scale reflects both the maturity of Develogic’s technical offer and the growing recognition of acoustic communication as a mission-critical capability in modern naval doctrine.

SWAT-SHOAL is expected to deliver prototype demonstrations by 2026, with results feeding into acquisition programmes across participating member states.