


Needlefish Patrols the Gulf: A Robot Boat With Eyes Beyond the Horizon
When oceanographers best known for mapping the seabed suddenly pivot to building cutting-edge maritime hardware, it’s worth paying attention. Ocean Infinity, a specialist outfit in an obscure corner of marine science, has launched the Needlefish—a sleek, 14-meter, 70 km/h catamaran. It’s unarmed, unmanned, and purpose-built for surveillance. And it’s now prowling Kuwaiti waters.
It may sound like science fiction, but the Needlefish is already operational. It forms part of a sophisticated maritime monitoring network backed by British firm SRT Marine Systems. This is no lone vessel—it’s a node in the brain of a larger system called SRT C5iSR.
Don’t let its lack of weapons fool you. The Needlefish can track, scan, map, record, and stream data to command centers in real time. Thanks to its remote sensing arsenal, it sees far beyond the horizon. No radar mast, no bored crew—just a machine that sees and knows, even without human eyes.
Its design looks ripped from a sci-fi storyboard: narrow, slick, and uncommonly cunning in appearance. The name Needlefish suits it—sharp, fast, and hydrodynamically elegant. Even more impressive, it’s fitted with a full suite of marine sensors for geodetic surveys and deep-sea monitoring, all without setting a single human foot onboard.
The Kuwaiti coast guard has already test-driven two units, staging a grand demo where the robot boat sliced through the bay under the watchful gaze of senior officials. Nods were exchanged, hands were shaken. The message was clear: the Persian Gulf may soon be patrolled by a partially autonomous fleet.
And yes, it’s already happening.