DRASS
Italian compact-submarine builder; DG-900 provides the AUV host platform in Europe's AUKUS Pillar II bid.
DRASS, the Italian submarine builder, partnered with Norway's Kongsberg on 8 June 2026 to bid its DG-900 compact submarine into AUKUS Pillar II procurement, offering navies without large attack-submarine fleets a route into seabed autonomy.
Last refreshed: 3 August 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Can DRASS's compact submarine break into an AUKUS programme designed around US vehicles?
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Autonomous Systems: Land & SeaBackground
DRASS, based in Livorno, is an Italian manufacturer of small submarines, diving systems and hyperbaric chambers, drawing on Italy's submarine-technology heritage and the wider Fincantieri industrial ecosystem. Its DG-series ranges from one-person swimmer-delivery vehicles to the DG-900, a compact conventional submarine built for autonomous underwater vehicle launch and recovery.
The DG-900's usual buyers are special-operations units and research institutes wanting a submarine smaller than a full attack boat. Its Kongsberg tie-up puts that same hull forward as a compact AUV host, a role distinct from Kongsberg's own sensor and vehicle business: DRASS supplies the carrying platform, not the underwater vehicle itself.
The commercial significance runs beyond DRASS's specialist niche: it gives a mid-sized European manufacturer a plausible foothold in AUKUS-scale procurement, provided technology-transfer rules eventually allow a non-AUKUS-nation submarine into the programme.
DRASS bids a compact hull into AUKUS
DRASS partnered with Norway's Kongsberg on 8 June 2026 to bid for AUKUS Pillar II undersea-warfare procurement, contributing its DG-900 compact submarine as the launch-and-recovery platform for Kongsberg's HUGIN Superior autonomous underwater vehicles.
The DG-900 carries up to three AUVs, offering a repeatable cycle a single vehicle cannot sustain, and gives navies without nuclear-powered submarines a route into seabed autonomy before boats like Australia's SSN-AUKUS class arrive in the 2030s. No contract value or AUKUS customer commitment has followed the announcement, and whether the DG-900 clears US export-control review for AUKUS procurement remains the open question determining whether DRASS's bid converts into business.