Tróia Peninsula
Portuguese peninsula at Setúbal Bay; site of the Navy's REPMUS uncrewed-systems exercise.
The Tróia Peninsula hosted REPMUS26 from 31 August to 25 September 2026, where a Spanish Navy robot boat launched Arquimea's Q-Slam 40 and Rheinmetall linked several makers' robots to one German Navy command POST.
Last refreshed: 7 October 2026
Why does NATO test its robot boats off a Portuguese peninsula?
Timeline for Tróia Peninsula
Mentioned in: Arquimea fires a Q-Slam 40 from a USV
Autonomous Systems: Land & SeaBackground
The Tróia Peninsula is a strip of land in southern Portugal at Setúbal Bay, between the Sado estuary and The Atlantic. The Portuguese Navy's Operational Experimentation Center is based there, and the navy has run its REPMUS uncrewed-systems exercise off Tróia each September since 2010. Shallow water inside the peninsula and deep water on the ocean side, including the Setúbal Canyon, let crews test systems in both conditions.
The exercise has grown into one of NATO's main proving grounds for uncrewed maritime systems. The 2025 edition drew over 3,500 participants from 37 countries and around 270 autonomous systems. The 2026 edition, REPMUS26, lasted from 31 August to 25 September; its trials included a loitering-munition shot from a Spanish Navy drone boat and a German Navy container command post run by Rheinmetall.
For industry, Tróia offers a fixed annual date and place to test equipment alongside NATO navies.