LR and Sagar Defence advance maritime autonomy

Lloyd’s Register (LR) and Sagar Defence Engineering have teamed up to develop practical pathways for certifying autonomous and remotely operated maritime systems, supporting their safe deployment across commercial, government and defence applications.

The partnership will focus on verification, validation, testing, classification readiness and the safety frameworks needed to secure regulatory and operational acceptance.

David Lloyd, LR’s vice president of naval and government business, said: “Autonomous maritime capability is moving rapidly from experimentation to operational deployment. For the world’s leading navies, the decisive question is no longer whether autonomy is technically possible, but whether it can be trusted to perform safely, securely and consistently under demanding mission conditions.”

The organisations will develop evidence-based approaches covering system integration, trials, certification readiness and in-service assurance. They will also work on operational concepts, mission profiles and safety cases, alongside engagement with regulators, government agencies and industry stakeholders to help shape future certification requirements.

Dipali Kuchekar, LR’s global director of naval autonomous systems, said assurance must consider how vessels, software, sensors, communications, remote operators and supporting infrastructure function together, including under degraded or failure conditions.

The collaboration aims to embed assurance early in development, translating operational requirements into engineering standards and proportionate testing evidence. This approach is intended to give operators, acquisition authorities and regulators greater confidence in autonomous technologies throughout their operational lifecycles.

Mridul Babbar, director of Sagar Defence Engineering, said working with LR would strengthen the certification and regulatory foundations needed to support autonomous and remotely operated systems.