The Swedish Defence Material Administration (FMV) announced on 30 October 2025 that it has recently conducted tests using an unmanned surface vessel (USV) in Hårsfjärden: a fjard outside Berga off the Baltic Sea near Stockholm.
The USV used, which has been given the name Ran in honour of the goddess of the sea depths in Norse mythology, is a Mariner autonomous USV developed by and purchased from the Norwegian company Maritime Robotics. The type is currently used by the Norwegian Home Guard and the Spanish, Danish and Portuguese navies, among others. It is about 6 m long, weighs about two tonnes, has a maximum speed of 24 kts (44.5 km/h) and has a range of 100-150 nautical miles (185-278 km).
“We have purchased a small boat, a concept demonstrator, that we can do tests with. We want to see how it works, how it behaves and what can be done with it,” stated Johanna Norén, who works on amphibious, support and base systems for the FMV.
Trials using Ran are being conducted under a three-year research and technology development project that the Swedish Armed Forces commissioned from the FMV to build knowledge and understanding of unmanned seagoing platforms.
Robert Sandgren, who works on technical support within the FMV, was quoted as saying, “For example, we look at the war in Ukraine, where USVs have an important role in the Black Sea. And with this project we want to build knowledge. For the armed forces, it is about what they want to do with USVs, what is possible, what choices are available and what requirements they can set. For FMV, it is about the procurement: how it should be done, whether it can be done faster and what is available on the market.”
The project also conducts market and regulatory analyses and looks at which technologies could be useful for USVs within the Swedish Armed Forces.
The FMC noted that the Ran USV “has cameras in all directions and is equipped with lidar [light detection and ranging sensors], which provides an accurate 3D image of the surroundings and is used for safe navigation. The boat can be remotely controlled manually or pre-programmed a route and the boat also has some ability to sense and avoid a collision.”
“Although it is a proven system, there are also parts of the system, including those linked to the system’s ability to avoid collisions, that have a lower level of technical maturity and that the project wants to explore,” explained Agnes Moberg, an FMV project manager.
Throughout the remaining year of the project, more tests will be conducted to build up knowledge regarding the procurement of such a system.
“It is very exciting that we are now starting tests,” said Moberg. “The idea is that these and future tests will help answer questions about how the armed forces can and should use unmanned systems.”
