United Arab Emirates:

Unique Group, a global innovator in subsea technologies and engineering, has announced its partnership with Ocean Power Technologies, a leader in innovative and cost-effective low-carbon marine power, data and service solutions, to deploy its existing WAM-V Unmanned Surface Vehicles in the UAE and other countries in GCC region.

Unique Group said it has a dynamic and agile range of Uni-USVs built inhouse by its research and development (R&D) team.

These USVs include the lightweight uni-mini, versatile uni-pact and the hybrid uni-max designed for surveying operations, environmental monitoring and engineered to meet diverse operational needs across challenging environments.

The integration of Ocean Power Technologies' commercially available vehicles along with Unique’s leading position in the offshore energy industry in the UAE will accelerate the adoption of USVs in the region, said the company in a statement.

Unique Group’s knowledge of the local industry and footprint in the region enables maintenance and services to be carried out more efficiently, it stated.

"Unique Group is proud to bring our expertise to this collaboration. With our extensive experience and engineering capabilities, we will add new capabilities such as electric drive to the WAM-V USVs," remarked Jack Dougherty, Global Head of USV.

"We look forward to this joint development and the opportunities it will create in the GCC region," he stated.

Philipp Stratmann, the CEO of Ocean Power Technologies, expressed his enthusiasm about this partnership, stating: "Working with Unique Group will further accelerate our efforts to deploy USVs globally."

"We are very excited about the prospects of expanding into the UAE and applaud the local industry’s forward-thinking in adopting autonomous technologies," he added.