7OCT

Indian Register clears navy USV software

1 min read

12:59UTC

The Indian Register of Shipping certified Accurate Industrial Controls' ISACA collision-avoidance software after 2,500 hours of trials; the firm plans to use it in six Indian Navy robot-boat conversions.

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Key takeaway

India's ship classifier has certified the autonomy software for six Indian Navy robot boats.

The Indian Register of Shipping, India's ship-classification society, has certified Accurate Industrial Controls' ISACA collision-avoidance software to International Maritime Organization (IMO) standards, Marine Technology News reported on 14 September⁠¹. Certification followed five audited milestones and 2,500 hours of sea and river trials. The firm plans to use it in converting six Indian Navy patrol boats into uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) under a contract signed in 2022. The first three are a 13m Fast Interceptor Craft and two 23m Immediate Support Vessels.

The certificate gives the navy a third-party record of what the software does at sea, rather than the vendor's own account. In Japan the class society ClassNK signed a memorandum with Evergreen, Samsung Heavy and Weathernews for a crewed commercial navigation trial in August.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

Ships at sea follow rules to avoid hitting each other. A boat with no crew needs software that follows the same rules. A company, Accurate Industrial Controls, has software for that, called ISACA. India's classification society, the Indian Register of Shipping, tested it and certified it. The company will use it to turn six Indian Navy patrol boats into robot boats.

Deep Analysis

Root Causes

A boat with no crew must obey the rules for avoiding collisions at sea, the same rules a crewed ship follows. The International Maritime Organization sets those rules, and a certifier needs a way to test that software meets them.

The certificate rests on five audited milestones and 2,500 hours of sea and river trials, so the software has a recorded test history.

What could happen next?

Precedent
A certified collision-avoidance stack gives other navies a benchmark when they ask what safe unmanned navigation means.
Risk
Certification covers the software against IMO standards, not the finished boats; the conversions still have to be accepted by the navy.

Source Landscape

This story draws on neutral-leaning sources

Primary parallel: Lloyd's Register, founded in 1760, grew out of merchants wanting an independent record of how seaworthy a ship was, rather than the owner's word. Third-party certification of software on a robot boat answers the same buyer's question.

Counter-parallel: Navies have usually certified their own warships. A class-society certificate on a naval conversion is a civil-standards check applied to a military hull, not a navy's own acceptance.

No contract value has been published for the six-boat conversion or for the certification work. For the supplier, the certificate is a document it can show to this navy and to others.

For the navy, a third-party record lowers the burden of proving the software safe in busy waters.

Sources:Marine Technology News

Mentions:Fast Interceptor Craft →Immediate Support Vessel →Indian Navy →International Maritime Organization →ClassNK →Weathernews →Japan →India →ISACA →Accurate Industrial Controls →Indian Register of Shipping →Evergreen Marine →Lloyd's Register →Marine Technology News →Samsung Heavy Industries →

First Reported In

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

Marine Technology News· 7 Oct 2026

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Different Perspectives

DNV and Fassmer

Signed a memorandum at SMM in Hamburg, announced on 10 September, to seek an approval in principle for autonomous naval vessels. DNV's Rasmus Stute said autonomy is "becoming one of the key pillars in defence".

Belgian Ministry of Defence

Awarded Exail Robotics Belgium €9.87m on 14 September, without competition, for three TRIDENT systems carrying the K-STER C mine-disposal vehicle for Ukraine. It had tendered separately in July for twelve tethered ROVs, not yet bought.

IRGC Navy (Iran)

IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi said the IRGC Navy seized a US Kingfish mine-hunting vehicle in the Strait of Hormuz on 27 September, valuing it at several million dollars. US Central Command calls the claim "clearly desperate"; no verified imagery exists.

UK Defence Intelligence and Kraken

Defence Intelligence said the 12 September clash "almost certainly marks the first time" Russian and Ukrainian USVs engaged directly. Kraken meanwhile trialled an unarmed Saab radar picket boat on 5 and 6 October.

Ukrainian forces and ARX Robotics

A Ukrainian Sargan-3000 destroyed a Russian robot boat on 12 September, and the first ARX GEREON ground robots reached Ukraine on 29 September. The Sargan-3000 carries a mounted gun.

Indian Register of Shipping

Certified Accurate Industrial Controls' ISACA collision-avoidance software to IMO standards after five audited milestones and 2,500 hours of trials. The firm plans to use it converting six Indian Navy patrol boats.