The winch plays a key role in demonstrating how autonomous vessels can safely and reliably deploy and operate equipment below the water surface. In this setup, a passive acoustic monitoring sensor is deployed via an umbilical cable that provides power and data communication between the sensor and the vessel, all of which is handled by the CORMAC M1 winch.

   

Reliable handling of sonar and sensors on an autonomous platform is especially fundamental, and that is where proven, intelligent launch-and-recovery systems play a crucial role. This project shows that a standard winch can support advanced autonomous operations without requiring custom-built solutions.

    

  

Recently, we also attended a gathering hosted by STORMBORN that brought together highly qualified suppliers from the offshore and defence industries. Here, we had the opportunity to showcase our winch solution to FMI and other stakeholders from the Danish Defence Industry.

  

The event showed how autonomous platforms are developed in close collaboration with experienced technology providers and how innovation happens when proven hardware meets next-generation autonomy.

The autonomous vessel X-WAVE is currently participating in the SeaSEC Data2Sea 2026 naval exercise, an international innovation challenge focused on autonomous maritime systems and ocean data collection.