Kraken, NVL Joint Venture Targets Rising Demand for Drone Ships
British defense contractor Kraken Technology and German shipbuilder NVL Group have formed a joint venture to accelerate the development and production of unmanned surface vessels.
The partnership aims to meet the growing global demand for scalable, uncrewed platforms for military and civilian applications, including the protection of critical infrastructure.
Under the initiative, NVL will strengthen its expertise in naval systems fabrication and integration. At the same time, Kraken will tap NVL’s production know-how to scale its high-performance, low-cost autonomous capabilities.
NVL has already invested in Kraken and holds options to join a further funding round in the fourth quarter of 2025.
Associated manufacturing will take place at NVL’s Blohm+Voss shipyard in Hamburg alongside existing UK facilities to maintain reach across the German and broader European market.
The consortium plans to assemble a range of autonomous vessels, starting with smaller boats and scaling to larger platforms, with production expected to begin later this year.
Anglo-German Cooperation
The partners highlighted that the collaboration addresses current security challenges by integrating autonomous and crewed systems, reflecting the future of naval operations in manned-unmanned teaming.
“The joint venture with Kraken offers us the opportunity to rapidly react to the latest requirements of our customers and to provide market-ready autonomous systems quickly and in high volumes,” NVL CEO Tim Wagner stated.
“This also includes…concepts for the naval tender vessel NTV 130 as a drone mothership that could succeed the six tender vessels (the ELBE class) currently operated by the German Navy.”
Kraken Technology CEO Mal Crease added that the partnership will provide allied nations with fully sovereign, autonomous maritime capabilities.
“Working with NVL will allow exponential scaling of production and supply chain to meet growing threats through deployment of high-performance, multi-role, mass capabilities across our seas,” he said.
