Booz Allen Hamilton has invested in San Francisco-based maritime robotics firm Ulysses, as part of a series of funding rounds aimed at scaling autonomous maritime systems.
The move reflects growing demand for lower-cost, deployable unmanned platforms in the undersea domain, particularly for missions that traditionally rely on crewed vessels.
Intended to expand Booz Allen’s capabilities in maritime operations, the investment covers mine countermeasures, seabed survey, and multi-vehicle coordination.
These areas increasingly rely on autonomous systems that can operate in contested or high-risk environments without direct human presence.
Ulysses develops autonomous surface and underwater vehicles designed for large-scale deployment.
Its approach combines relatively low-cost hardware with onboard computing systems to enable autonomous navigation and mission execution.
Akhil Voorakkara, co-founder and CEO of Ulysses, said that “operating at sea still means crewed vessels at tens of thousands of dollars a day, and most of the ocean goes completely unmonitored as a result.”
“We’re building autonomous systems that change that equation by orders of magnitude — vehicles that can survey, inspect, and protect our oceans at a scale that’s never been possible.”
Latest Initiatives
Alongside its investment activity, Booz Allen Hamilton has been expanding partnerships and contracts in defense, autonomy, and cybersecurity, positioning itself across multiple operational domains.
In 2025, the company worked with L3Harris Technologies to deliver the second prototype of a mobile command center for the US Air Force under a $315-million contract, supporting deployable command-and-control capabilities.
That same year, Booz Allen partnered with Shield AI to integrate autonomy software into uncrewed systems.
In 2024, the company secured a contract valued at up to $1.2 billion with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
The work focuses on strengthening cyber defense capabilities under the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation program, including network security, asset protection, and identity management systems.
