Kraken Announces Strategic Alliance with ThayerMahan

 Globe News Wire

26 February 2018

ST. JOHN’S – Kraken Robotics Inc. (TSX-V:PNG) (OTCQB:KRKNF) (“Kraken” or the “Company”), announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Kraken Robotic Systems Inc. has entered into a strategic alliance agreement with ThayerMahan Inc., a US based systems integrator specializing in maritime autonomous systems. Both companies are collaborating to deliver next generation underwater sensors and robotics for military, law enforcement, port and maritime security and environmental monitoring applications.

ThayerMahan Inc. was founded by retired U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Mike Connor, who also serves on Kraken’s Board of Directors. During a 35-year career, Vice Admiral Connor commanded at the ship, squadron and task force levels. He served as Commander of the entire U.S. submarine force from September 2012 until September 2015. Vice Admiral Connor led the US Navy’s submarine force into robotic undersea systems, achieving key milestones including the first operational deployment and recovery of an unmanned underwater vehicle from a submarine.

Management Comments

"The military operates in an increasingly complex and challenging technology environment,” said Vice Admiral Connor. “At ThayerMahan, it is our mission to integrate and deploy the latest sensors, robotics and machine learning technology as affordable and innovative solutions. We believe it is crucial to work with partners who are as committed and passionate about what they do, as we are. We feel that the Kraken has developed technology that is driving innovation in our industry and significantly benefits our mutual customers”.

“The strategic alliance with ThayerMahan enables us to expand our underwater technology into new applications," said Karl Kenny, Kraken's President and CEO. "We are thrilled that this relationship can accelerate our access to new US Navy opportunities such as the Advanced Naval Technology Exercise 2018.”

US Navy’s Advanced Naval Technology Exercise 2018

The Advanced Naval Technology Exercise (ANTX 2018) is an annual, invitation-only event that was created by the U.S. Navy to see the future of naval technology in action today. Warfare centers, other Navy commands, universities and industry leaders are invited to showcase their technologies and capabilities during this event. The event provides an opportunity to test new unmanned systems and related technologies, while gaining access to US Navy test ranges, facilities and people. This includes access to Autonomous Undersea Vehicles, Unmanned Surface Vehicles and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, as well as command, control and communication capabilities. ANTX also provides a low risk environment where scientists, engineers and sailors can evaluate technological innovations at the research & development level before they become militarized and interfaced within Navy operations.

The theme for ANTX 2018, being held from August 27 – 31, 2018, is Human-Machine Optimization and Integrated Targeting in Maritime Environments. Key tasks include conducting live demonstrations of the tactics, techniques and procedures that are used in the collection, storage and transmission of actionable intelligence.

SeaScout® Expeditionary System for Seabed Mapping and Intelligence

During the exercise, ThayerMahan intends to deploy and demonstrate SeaScout® - an expeditionary system for seabed mapping and intelligence. SeaScout® will feature the following characteristics:

Kraken’s KATFISH™, an actively stabilized towfish with Synthetic Aperture Sonar. Wide area seafloor coverage, with area coverage rates (ACR) of 3km2/hour and up to 8 knots tow speed, superior pixel resolution for detection and classification (3cm x 3cm @ >200 m per side range), real time full swath, full resolution SAS processing, 200m+ operating depth, fly-off bottom navigation, automatic target detection and in-stride classification

- Real time sea-floor imagery transmission using secure, reliable (zero-error), data compressed, fast content delivery to cloud-based storage location to/from fixed sites and to/from mobile platforms.

- Cloud based data analytics, using machine learning for automated change detection of seabed targets by comparing test generated and deployed seabed targets against previously surveyed bottom mapping baseline information.

Other phases of the strategic alliance will demonstrate SeaScout® deployment from a variety of manned and unmanned platforms.