HomeCompaniesAICE
AICE

Submarine drones for defense

We are building the next generation of underwater defense systems: autonomous swarms of modular marine drones to secure naval assets and coastal infrastructure against evolving underwater threats.
Active Founders
Gregoire Chomette
Gregoire Chomette
Co-founder and CEO
Building the future of underwater warfare. Previously @ NASA working on asteroid threats. MIT AeroAstro MSc. (2021)
Rémi Bouteiller
Rémi Bouteiller
Founder
Building the future of underwater warfare. European Robotic Champion with RCVA
Company Launches
AICE Power - Underwater drones for defense
See original launch post

Hey everyone,

TLDR: we are building a new generation of UUVs (Unmanned Underwater Vehicle) for defense of critical maritime infrastructure.

The evolution of modern battlefields shows the same pattern everywhere: highly expensive military systems are increasingly being challenged by agile, low-cost technologies produced at scale.

In Ukraine, cheap aerial drones have transformed warfare and forced entire defense doctrines to adapt. We think the same shift is about to happen underwater, and are obsessed with the question of what the “drone moment” for underwater warfare would look like.

So we started speaking with submariners, naval operators, ex-commandos, and defense engineers. The demand signal was much stronger than we expected, and the common need is always the same: cost-effective and highly modular underwater vehicles acting in swarms that can adapt quickly to operational requirements (speed, range, sonar equipment, payloads, etc.). Today, very few solutions exist.

A couple of days after deciding to pivot, we wanted to move as fast as possible and get something real in the water before Demo Day. So we built our first modular prototype within a week. It already integrates the main subsystems and was designed to evolve quickly based on operator feedback and mission requirements. Here is a photo:

uploaded image

Our ask:

Would love to connect with people across the defense ecosystem - especially naval operators, submariners, maritime special operations, and teams working on subsea robotics, maritime autonomy, or distributed naval warfare across Europe, NATO, and allied countries.

Previous Launches
Clip-on sensors that cut commercial building energy bills by 30% by identifying waste that current systems miss.
YC Photos
AICE
Founded:2026
Batch:Spring 2026
Team Size:2
Status:
Active
Location:San Francisco
Primary Partner:Nicolas Dessaigne