Romania’s OVES Enterprise joins German STARK to develop AI-powered naval drones

OVES Enterprise, a technology company based in the Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca specialising in autonomous systems and artificial intelligence-based applications, has signed a strategic partnership with German military technology manufacturer STARK. Under the agreement, the Romanian company’s Nemesis AI technology will be integrated into the VANTA unmanned naval systems developed by the German company.

According to a statement issued by the two companies on September 1, as cited by Ziarul Financiar, the collaboration is formalised through a recently signed memorandum of understanding, which establishes the framework for broader cooperation on the development and integration of software solutions and equipment for autonomous defence systems.

The first stage of the collaboration aims to integrate the technology developed by the Romanian company with STARK’s own artificial intelligence capabilities and unmanned naval systems. The integration is expected to extend the VANTA platform’s ability to autonomously avoid obstacles, navigate in areas where GNSS signals are unavailable, interpret data provided by onboard sensors and estimate the distance to detected objects.

“STARK knows how to build and quickly bring to market defence systems with a high degree of complexity. There are technological areas where the capabilities we have developed through Nemesis AI can complement and improve these systems. We see this partnership as a long-term collaboration, which can lead OVES Enterprise technology to several categories of autonomous systems and, over time, to the development of joint products,” said Mihai Filip, CEO of OVES Enterprise.

The German group’s portfolio includes VIRTUS, a loitering munitions system under contract with the Bundeswehr and other European states; VANTA, which recently became the first unmanned naval system introduced into the Cyberspace and Information Service of the German Armed Forces; and MINERVA, an artificial intelligence-based command-and-control software designed to coordinate swarms of autonomous systems.

(Photo source: Mihai Filip on LinkedIn)