Inside NATO’s Largest Test of Next-Generation Maritime Technology
This week’s video takes viewers to Portugal’s Tróia Peninsula for REPMUS 2026, short for Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping with Maritime Unmanned Systems. The Portuguese Navy led the annual exercise from 31 August to 25 September. NATO Channel describes it as “the ultimate testing ground for the future of robotic warfare at sea,” bringing together uncrewed surface vessels, underwater vehicles, aerial drones, artificial intelligence and advanced sensors (DVIDS).
The film includes footage of the systems on display and interviews with three of the people behind the experiment: Justin Simmons of NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (DIANA); Captain Sérgio Ricardo Caldeira de Carvalho, Director of the Portuguese Navy Operational Experimentation Centre (CEOM); and João Alves, Head of Experimentation and Exercise at the NATO Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE). The central theme is interoperability: getting different uncrewed systems to communicate, share data and work together, while AI helps operators make decisions faster (DVIDS).
The Scale of the Experiment
According to NATO, REPMUS 2026 involved 300 uncrewed systems, 60 research and development companies and representatives of 36 navies. The Portuguese Navy ran it with the University of Porto’s engineering faculty, CMRE, NATO’s Joint Capability Group on Maritime Unmanned Systems and the European Defence Agency. One strand tested Task Force X-Arctic, an Allied Command Transformation project on how networked uncrewed systems can provide situational awareness across the North Atlantic, the Arctic and the High North. ACT says the month of trials showed the project can connect and orchestrate a wide range of autonomous systems from nations, industry and academia.
For the Royal Navy, which led the operational scenarios, the focus was anti-submarine warfare. Gliders, squads of small and medium uncrewed surface vessels, and 12- and 17-metre autonomous boats were tested on towing sonar, dropping sonobuoys and launching gliders, in support of the Atlantic Bastion programme (Ocean News).
Why It Matters
The most important thing in this video is not any single drone. It is the connective tissue that lets many drones from many countries work as one force. Navies are now buying uncrewed systems faster than they are learning to integrate them. REPMUS is where that gap shows up and where allies try to close it before a crisis forces them to. This year’s work on letting a single operator control several different types of system through one common interface, reported by Daily Mare, is how a navy short of sailors gets more coverage without adding crews.
The setting matters too. The same networked approach being tested off Portugal is aimed at the North Atlantic and the High North, where submarine activity and threats to seabed infrastructure put the greatest strain on allied navies. What the experiment shows is that systems can be connected and orchestrated. What it does not yet show is that this works at scale, over long periods and against a capable adversary. That is the next step, not this one.
Note on figures: The video description and Navy Leaders report more than 1,500 personnel, while NATO’s news release gives more than 3,700 participants. The sources do not explain the difference, so the write-up does not use a single headcount.
Sources
DVIDS / NATO Channel video page: https://www.dvidshub.net/video/1025834/inside-natos-largest-test-next-generation-maritime-technology
NATO Channel video page: https://www.nato.int/en/multimedia/multimedia/videos/2026/10/06/inside-natos-largest-test-of-next-generation-maritime-technology
NATO news release, REPMUS 2026: https://www.nato.int/en/news-and-events/articles/news/2026/10/08/repmus-2026-in-portugal-brings-together-nato-allies-to-test-uncrewed-maritime-systems
NATO ACT, Task Force X-Arctic at REPMUS 2026: https://www.act.nato.int/article/tfx-arctic-repmus/
Ocean News, Royal Navy autonomous ASW at REPMUS: https://oceannews.com/news/defense/royal-navy-tests-autonomous-asw-systems-in-nato-exercise-repmus
Navy Leaders, REPMUS 26 report: https://navyleaders.com/news/forging-ahead-into-a-crewed-uncrewed-future-at-repmus-26/
Daily Mare, REPMUS 26 report: https://dailymare.com/news/repmus-26-off-troia-four-weeks-of-uncrewed-systems-testing-with-36-navies-taking-part,2890