CSBC partners with Havoc on autonomous surface vessel development

Taipei, Sept. 11 (CNA) CSBC Corp., Taiwan's largest shipbuilder, announced Friday that it has teamed up with U.S.-based all-domain collaborative autonomy firm Havoc to develop autonomous surface vessels (ASVs) in Taiwan.

In a statement, CSBC said it signed a partnership agreement with Havoc at the U.S. firm's headquarters in Rhode Island on Thursday, U.S. time, to pursue licensed co-production of ASVs for Taiwan's maritime security.

Under the agreement, the two companies will leverage their respective capabilities to integrate Havoc's industry-leading autonomy software into CSBC-built platforms produced and maintained in Taiwan, CSBC said.

The partnership is expected not only to strengthen CSBC's ability to produce ASVs in Taiwan, but also to create opportunities for local suppliers to participate in the project, the shipbuilder said.

"Taiwan's defense policy calls for domestically produced autonomous platforms that can be mass produced, maintained, and upgraded here, developed through domestic industry and technology transfer. CSBC has long been committed to strengthening Taiwan's indigenous shipbuilding and maritime defense capabilities," CSBC Chairman Chen Jeng-horng (陳政宏) said in the statement.

"Working with Havoc allows us to combine CSBC's shipbuilding, production, and lifecycle support capabilities with Havoc's advanced autonomy technology, while strengthening Taiwan's domestic supply chain and defense industrial base for the long term," Chen said.

CSBC said the cooperation with Havoc is in line with Section 1266 of the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026 on joint U.S.-Taiwan production of unmanned systems, as well as Taiwan's policy goal of promoting defense autonomy and domestic production of unmanned vehicles.

The two companies hope to establish a scalable cooperation model that combines Taiwan's industrial base with U.S. autonomous technology to further enhance capabilities for producing and deploying autonomous maritime systems, CSBC said.

According to Havoc, the company's software-defined hardware approach powers military and commercial autonomous systems across sea, air and land, enabling them to sense, decide and act together in complex and contested environments.