Kongsberg Sounder Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) Market Report 2026

Kongsberg Sounder Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) Market Overview

• Kongsberg Sounder Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) market size has reached to $1 billion in 2025 • Expected to grow to $2.02 billion in 2030 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.2% • Growth Driver: Rising Offshore Oil And Gas Exploration Activities Fueling The Growth Of The Market Due To Increasing Demand For High-Precision Autonomous Subsea Surveying In Deepwater Hydrocarbon Exploration • North America was the largest region in 2025 and Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing region.

What Is Covered Under Kongsberg Sounder Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) Market?

The Kongsberg sounder uncrewed surface vessel (USV) is an autonomous or remotely operated marine vessel that integrates advanced navigation, sonar, and sensor technologies to operate efficiently in coastal, harbor, and offshore environments. The primary purpose of the vessel is to support safer, cost-effective, and high-precision maritime operations and commercial survey applications. The main types of kongsberg sounder uncrewed surface vessel (USV) include sounder uncrewed surface vessel with gondola, sounder uncrewed surface vessel without gondola, multi purpose uncrewed surface vessel, hydro acoustic optimized uncrewed surface vessel, and autonomous surface vehicle. Sounder uncrewed surface vessel with gondola refers to an autonomous marine survey platform equipped with a gondola structure for carrying hydrographic and acoustic sensing equipment. These vessels are categorized by performance attributes including high endurance uncrewed surface vessel, medium endurance uncrewed surface vessel, high speed survey uncrewed surface vessel, deep water operation capable uncrewed surface vessel, and precision hydrographic data collection uncrewed surface vessel and they are deployed through containerized deployment, ship based deployment, shore based deployment, rapid field deployment, and offshore deployment. The key applications of hydrographic survey, environmental monitoring, offshore oil and gas, defense and security, and others, while the end-users includes commercial, government, defense, research institutes, and others.

What Is The Kongsberg Sounder Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) Market Growth Forecast?

The kongsberg sounder uncrewed surface vessel (USV) market size is expected to see rapidly grown in the next few years. It will grow to $2.02 billion in 2030 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.2%. The growth in the forecast period can be attributed to increasing adoption of autonomous maritime survey technologies, growing demand for real time oceanographic data collection, rising investments in smart maritime infrastructure projects, expansion of offshore renewable energy developments, increasing focus on unmanned maritime operations for safety enhancement. Major trends in the forecast period include increasing adoption of autonomous hydrographic survey platforms for marine data collection, growing deployment of multi-purpose uncrewed surface vessels across offshore operations, rising demand for high-precision hydro-acoustic survey capabilities, expanding use of remotely operated vessels for hazardous maritime environments, increasing integration of modular sensor payloads for diverse marine survey applications.

Global Kongsberg Sounder Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) Market Segmentation

1) By Type: Sounder Uncrewed Surface Vessel With Gondola; Sounder Uncrewed Surface Vessel Without Gondola; Multi Purpose Uncrewed Surface Vessel; Hydro Acoustic Optimized Uncrewed Surface Vessel; Autonomous Surface Vehicle 2) By Performance: High Endurance Uncrewed Surface Vessel; Medium Endurance Uncrewed Surface Vessel; High Speed Survey Uncrewed Surface Vessel; Deep Water Operation Capable Uncrewed Surface Vessel; Precision Hydrographic Data Collection Uncrewed Surface Vessel 3) By Deployment: Containerized Deployment; Ship Based Deployment; Shore Based Deployment; Rapid Field Deployment; Offshore Deployment 4) By Application: Hydrographic Survey; Environmental Monitoring; Offshore Oil And Gas; Defense And Security; Other Applications 5) By End User: Commercial; Government; Defense; Research Institutes; Other End Users Subsegments: 1) By Sounder Uncrewed Surface Vessel With Gondola: Hull Mounted Gondola Systems; Retractable Gondola Systems; Fixed Depth Gondola Systems; Modular Gondola Integration Systems; Deep Water Survey Gondola Systems 2) By Sounder Uncrewed Surface Vessel Without Gondola: Hull Integrated Sensor Systems; Side Mounted Sensor Systems; Portable Survey Sensor Configurations; Shallow Water Operation Systems; Lightweight Survey Platforms 3) By Multi Purpose Uncrewed Surface Vessel: Survey And Mapping Operations Vessels; Inspection And Monitoring Vessels; Environmental Data Collection Vessels; Defense And Surveillance Support Vessels; Research And Exploration Vessels 4) By Hydro Acoustic Optimized Uncrewed Surface Vessel: Single Beam Echo Sounder Systems; Multi Beam Echo Sounder Systems; Sub Bottom Profiler Systems; Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler Systems; Integrated Hydro Acoustic Survey Systems 5) By Autonomous Surface Vehicle: Remotely Operated Surface Vehicles; Semi Autonomous Surface Vehicles; Fully Autonomous Surface Vehicles; Artificial Intelligence Enabled Navigation Systems; Swarm Enabled Cooperative Surface Vehicles

What Are The Drivers Of The Kongsberg Sounder Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) Market?

The growing offshore oil and gas exploration activities are expected to propel the growth of the Kongsberg sounder uncrewed surface vessel (USV) market going forward. Offshore oil and gas exploration activities involve locating and extracting petroleum resources from beneath the ocean floor through offshore drilling and production operations. The growth in offshore oil and gas exploration activities is due to an increase in energy demand, which is pushing energy companies to explore untapped hydrocarbon reserves in deepwater and ultra-deepwater regions. The Kongsberg sounder uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) support offshore exploration ecosystems by offering autonomous, high-precision survey capabilities, making them ideal for challenging marine environments. For instance, in March 2025, according to the Global Energy Monitor, a US-based nonprofit organization, in 2024, nineteen offshore projects achieved first oil or gas production, accounting for 71% of the total reserves brought online during the year, equivalent to 6.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent (bboe). Therefore, the growing offshore oil and gas exploration activities are driving the growth of the Kongsberg sounder uncrewed surface vessel (USV) industry. The growing expansion of offshore wind energy projects is expected to propel the growth of the kongsberg sounder uncrewed surface vessel (USV) market going forward. Offshore wind energy projects involve the development and deployment of wind-powered electricity generation systems in marine environments using fixed-bottom or floating turbine installations connected through subsea infrastructure. The growing expansion of offshore wind energy projects is primarily driven by rising investments in renewable energy generation, increasing government decarbonization initiatives, and the global transition toward sustainable power sources. Kongsberg sounder uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) support offshore wind development activities by enabling autonomous hydrographic surveying, seabed mapping, environmental monitoring, and inspection operations with improved efficiency and reduced operational risks in offshore environments. For instance, in April 2026, according to the Global Wind Energy Council, a Portugal-based international trade association, the global wind energy sector added a record 9.3 gigawatts (GW) of new offshore wind capacity, up 16% from the previous year. Therefore, the growing expansion of offshore wind energy projects is driving the growth of the Kongsberg sounder uncrewed surface vessel (USV) industry.

Key Players In The Global Kongsberg Sounder Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) Market

Major companies operating in the kongsberg sounder uncrewed surface vessel (usv) market are Kongsberg Gruppen ASA; Fugro; Teledyne Technologies; Exail Technologies; Maritime Robotics; OceanAlpha

What Are Latest Mergers And Acquisitions In The Kongsberg Sounder Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) Market?

In March 2026, Kongsberg Discovery AS, a Norway-based technology company that manufactures and provides the Kongsberg Sounder USV, partnered with Fugro N.V. to support offshore survey and USV-based marine data operations. Through this partnership, Kongsberg Discovery aims to strengthen the integration of its hydroacoustic and positioning technologies across Fugro’s global operations and uncrewed surface vessel (USV) fleet, enhancing high-precision seabed mapping and autonomous survey capabilities. Fugro N.V. is a Netherlands-based company specializing in geo-data acquisition, analysis, and consulting services for marine and infrastructure environments, supporting government and commercial offshore projects.

Regional Outlook

North America was the largest region in the Kongsberg sounder uncrewed surface vessel (USV) market in 2025. Asia-Pacific is expected to be the fastest-growing region in the forecast period. The regions covered in this market report are Asia-Pacific, South East Asia, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East, Africa. The countries covered in this market report are Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, Russia, South Korea, UK, USA, Canada, Italy, Spain.

What Defines the Kongsberg Sounder Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) Market?

The Kongsberg sounder uncrewed surface vessel (USV) market consists of sales of autonomous unmanned surface vehicles (USVS) equipped with sonar systems, multibeam echo sounder systems for seabed mapping, marine navigation and positioning control units, and integrated hydrographic survey payload systems. Values in this market are ‘factory gate’ values, that is, the value of goods sold by the manufacturers or creators of the goods, whether to other entities (including downstream manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors and retailers) or directly to end customers. The value of goods in this market includes related services sold by the creators of the goods.

How is Market Value Defined and Measured?

The market value is defined as the revenues that enterprises gain from the sale of goods and/or services within the specified market and geography through sales, grants, or donations in terms of the currency (in USD unless otherwise specified). The revenues for a specified geography are consumption values that are revenues generated by organizations in the specified geography within the market, irrespective of where they are produced. It does not include revenues from resales along the supply chain, either further along the supply chain or as part of other products.

What Key Data and Analysis Are Included in the Kongsberg Sounder Uncrewed Surface Vessel (USV) Market Report 2026?

The kongsberg sounder uncrewed surface vessel (usv) market research report is one of a series of new reports from The Business Research Company that provides market statistics, including industry global market size, regional shares, competitors with the market share, detailed market segments, market trends and opportunities, and any further data you may need to thrive in the kongsberg sounder uncrewed surface vessel (usv) industry. The market research report delivers a complete perspective of everything you need, with an in-depth analysis of the current and future state of the industry.