The Palantir mafia is expanding. Yesterday, autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) company Vatn Systems announced a strategic partnership with the data giant, which will help it to scale up and streamline its manufacturing capabilities.
The company will use Palantir’s Foundry system to digitize the way it works and use artificial intelligence to improve everything from production speed to supply chain.
“With the same number of people, we’ll be able to produce more vehicles and have greater capacity, and do it iwith better assurances on our supply chain, and lower risks,” Vatn Systems CEO Nelson Mills told Tectonic.
Autonomy at sea: Mills and his brother Freddie founded Vatn in 2023, and in 2024 raised a $13M seed round from major backers including RTX, IQT, and Lockheed Martin.
- The company’s main product is a lightweight, 6-inch-diameter AUV—effectively a mini, autonomous torpedo. The defense version is called the Skelmir S6; The commercial version is the TORSK.
- Skelmir S6 can carry a 10-20lb payload and operate as deep as 100M.
- It’s tiny enough that it can be deployed by hand, or shot off a sub or larger vessel.
- The AUV is designed to be produced and deployed en masse – each unit costs about $75K, oodles less than your average torpedo.
- Vatn’s bespoke navigation software enables the drones to operate in GPS-denied and jammed environments.
Big leagues: Mills said Palantir’s software will be particularly helpful for de-risking the company’s supply chain (cough, tariffs, cough) as it scales up production this year.
- While tariffs are still in flux, Mills said the software will help determine where import costs might be hitting hard.
- It will also help them to root out inefficiencies in the manufacturing process.