Background
This week, we’re coming to you from Bristol, Rhode Island where Austin and Tim are visiting the production facility of Vatn Systems. Vatn, led by CEO and co-founder Nelson Mills, is scaling the manufacturing of autonomous underwater vehicles (UUVs) to support America’s undersea warfare capabilities. From being homeschool on a boat in the Caribbean to building 2,000 UUVs per year, Nelson dishes hard-hitting insights on maritime technology, defense manufacturing, and the critical supply chain challenges facing the American industrial base.
About the Company
Vatn Systems is building low-cost autonomous underwater vehicles at scale to maintain America’s underwater superiority. Based in Bristol, Rhode Island, the company recently hit 50 employees and operates a production facility capable of manufacturing up to 2,000 units per year. The company focuses on building the platform (the “truck” or “iPhone”), leaving it to customers to determine the payload and application needs. They have a suite of platform-agnostic launch capabilities from torpedo tubes, USVs, UAVs, and aircraft.
Key Products:
* S6: 6-inch diameter, man-portable UUV with patented modularity system for kinetic payloads, sensor payloads, and decoy applications
* S12: 12.75-inch diameter vehicle (same size as Mark 54 torpedo) that can launch from traditional torpedo tubes
Company Philosophy: Building the platform (the “truck” or “iPhone”) while customers determine payload and application needs. Platform-agnostic launch capabilities from torpedo tubes, USVs, UAVs, and aircraft.
Fun Fact: The company’s name, “Vatn” is Old Norse/Icelandic for “water”.
About the Guest
Nelson Mills is the CEO and co-founder of Vatn Systems, bringing a unique combination of academic, technical, and maritime backgrounds to undersea defense technology.
Learn more about Vatn: https://hii.com/
Follow Nelson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/millsn/
Follow Austin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/austinelliottgray/
Follow Tim: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tglinatsis/
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