7OCT

Arquimea fires a Q-Slam 40 from a USV

2 min read

12:59UTC

Spanish firm Arquimea launched its Q-Slam 40 loitering munition from a Spanish Navy robot boat at NATO's REPMUS26 exercise, while Rheinmetall tested a port-defence command post.

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Key takeaway

Arquimea and Rheinmetall used REPMUS26 to sell the munition and the control layer, not the boat.

Arquimea launched its Q-Slam 40 loitering munition from a Spanish Navy uncrewed surface vessel at sea during REPMUS26, the NATO uncrewed-systems exercise on Portugal's Tróia Peninsula, sending live video into Spanish Navy command systems⁠¹. Infodefensa reports the launch as Arquimea's first from a naval drone. Neither the company nor the outlet gives the date within the exercise, which ran from 31 August to 25 September.

At the same exercise Rheinmetall ran a containerised, relocatable command centre for the German Navy that controlled underwater sensors and uncrewed systems from several makers through one interface, for port and critical-infrastructure protection⁠². Rheinmetall's delegation head called it a prototype test. A land-systems group selling that control layer can earn from maritime defence without building a boat. The German group has been building the same position on land, opening a British land-autonomy centre around its Canadian unit's PATH kit in August.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

REPMUS is a yearly NATO exercise where navies test robot boats, submarines and aircraft together. This year it ran on Portugal's coast. Two things happened there. A Spanish firm, Arquimea, launched a small exploding drone from a Spanish Navy robot boat and sent live video back. And Germany's Rheinmetall showed a portable command centre that controls robots from several makers at once, to guard ports.

Deep Analysis

Root Causes

A loitering munition launched from a boat needs three links to work: the launcher, the video feed and the navy's command system. Arquimea's test joined all three, and the live video reaching Spanish command systems is the part a buyer can check.

Rheinmetall's container answers a different gap. Port and critical-infrastructure protection involves sensors and robots from many makers. One interface that takes them all would spare an operator from watching several screens.

What could happen next?

Consequence
If more navies adopt a single command interface, robot makers may have to build to it to be included in port-defence networks.
Precedent
A sea-launched loitering munition feeding a navy's own command system gives other firms a published baseline to match.

Source Landscape

This story draws on neutral-leaning sources

Primary parallel: The US Navy's Fleet Problems of the 1920s and 1930s tested carrier aircraft in large annual exercises before carriers were built in numbers. REPMUS plays a similar role for uncrewed systems: it is where untried combinations meet a navy's command systems.

Counter-parallel: The Fleet Problems tested one platform type under one navy's doctrine. REPMUS mixes firms and navies, so a success there shows interfaces working, not a doctrine settled.

Rheinmetall's command post needs software and a container, not a hull. A firm that sells the control layer can earn from every vessel connected to it, whoever built the vessel.

Neither firm has disclosed a price or a customer order. The German parent, Rheinmetall AG, did the REPMUS work for the German Navy.

Sources:Infodefensa·Rheinmetall

Mentions:Fleet Problem →Q-Slam 40 →Spanish Navy →Rheinmetall →German Navy →REPMUS26 →NATO →Portugal →US Navy →Germany →Tróia Peninsula →Arquimea →Infodefensa →

First Reported In

Update #13 · US Navy orders 30 robot boats from 3 yards

Infodefensa· 7 Oct 2026

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Different Perspectives

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Indian Register of Shipping

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