Built for endurance and flexibility, the new platform features modular integration, real-time adaptive planning, and a ?production-ready? architecture, allowing it to adapt quickly to a variety of missions.

It pairs Metron?s Resilient Mission Autonomy software with Cellular Robotics? Guardian AUV as the host platform. Integer Technologies and General Dynamics are also supporting mission health management and payload integration.

?Our Lancet prototype delivers a scalable, cost-effective system with the reach, reliability, persistence, and payload delivery capability needed to be operationally relevant,? said Van Gurley, CEO of Metron. 

?By integrating proven hardware around a mature autonomy core and designing the manufacturing plan to support rapid scaling, we are creating an autonomous force multiplier for the undersea domain.?

The upcoming navy deployment of Lancet is backed by a Defense Innovation Unit contract under the Combat Autonomous Maritime Platform program, aiming to rapidly field autonomous AUVs with minimal human oversight.

Metron?s work builds on open-water trials conducted in 2024 and 2025 with Cellula Robotics, where its Autonomous Navigation Command and Control software was integrated into the Guardian AUV.