Polish Naval Academy joins the Autonomous Systems Centre, taking the programme underwater

The Polish Naval Academy in Gdynia formally became a member of the Ministry of National Defence's Autonomous Systems Centre (Ośrodek Systemów Autonomicznych, OSA) on 8 September, when an annex to the centre's founding agreement was signed on the opening day of the MSPO defence exhibition in Kielce. Since its launch in March the centre has dealt with aerial and ground drones; the academy's accession gives it an institutional foothold in the underwater domain and gives Gdynia's unmanned underwater vehicle work a direct route into military testing and procurement.

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08 september 2026   |   12:37   |   Source: Gazeta Morska   |   Prepared by: Kamil Kusier   |   Print

fot. MSPO / AMW

The annex was signed by Colonel Mariusz Zieja, the defence minister's plenipotentiary for the centre and its head, and Rear Admiral Tomasz Szubrycht, rector-commandant of the Naval Academy. It completes a process that began on 14 July, when the academy signed a declaration of intent to join. According to the academy, its contribution lies in the maritime domain: experience in developing unmanned underwater vehicles, control algorithms and technologies for detecting and locating objects underwater.

What the centre is for

The Autonomous Systems Centre was established on 19 March 2026 in Warsaw, with the founding agreement signed at the Air Force Institute of Technology (ITWL) in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and Secretary of State Cezary Tomczyk. It brings together the military research institutes, the IDEAS research institute and the state-owned Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa, with ITWL as project lead. Its remit is to shorten significantly the path from concepts and technology demonstrators to solutions ready for operational use, to select and validate unmanned systems systematically, including those from start-ups, and to reduce technological risk and cost through comprehensive testing before equipment enters the armed forces' acquisition system.

- OSA is also there to overcome administrative barriers, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said at the inauguration.

The minister pointed to Ukraine, where the army had undergone the largest transformation in its history over four years of war, and said the centre's first task would be an April test of a Polish strike drone modelled on the Shahed with a view to production. Cezary Tomczyk added that the KUNA unmanned ground vehicle would also pass through the centre. Until this week, in other words, it was an air and land programme.

What Gdynia brings

The academy runs Poland's only full degree course in mechatronics specialising in underwater work, whose graduates qualify among other things as underwater vehicle operators, and a team of its cadets took first place in a defence ministry competition for an unmanned maritime system project codenamed Brachium Belli. From October it opens a new specialisation for military students in the operation of unmanned maritime weapon systems, with 15 places in the first intake. The academy argues that autonomous and remotely operated vehicles provide patrol, survey, inspection, mine countermeasure and critical infrastructure protection capabilities, and that underwater drones increasingly replace sailors in high-risk missions.

The context is Baltic. Protection of subsea cables and pipelines, mine reconnaissance and crew preparation for the A26 submarines ordered under the Orka programme are all areas where the Polish Navy needs domestic unmanned solutions faster than the conventional procurement cycle allows. Membership of the centre gives that work a formal channel to testing and, potentially, production.

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Akademia Marynarki Wojennej Ośrodek Systemów Autonomicznych OSA MON bezzałogowe pojazdy podwodne MSPO 2026

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