Elbit bought 250+ underwater robots’ worth of know-how. The price is “not material.”

On October 20, 2026, Israel’s Elbit Systems said it had completed its acquisition of International Submarine Engineering (ISE), the Port Coquitlam, B.C. maker of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). ISE says it has delivered more than 250 underwater vehicles to customers in 20+ countries since 1974. Elbit’s word for the price: “not material”. It did not disclose a figure.

Closed on October 20. Price: “not material.”

Elbit’s October 20 announcement is short. It completed the acquisition of ISE, a Vancouver-area company that designs and builds AUVs and ROVs. ISE brings more than 50 years of experience and has delivered more than 250 underwater vehicles to customers in more than 20 countries. Elbit says the purchase is meant to expand its underwater intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), mine countermeasures and anti-submarine warfare portfolio. The price is described only as “not material to Elbit Systems.” No number was released.

For scale, Elbit reported Q2 2026 revenue of $2,287.1M and an order backlog of $32.0B as of June 30, 2026. Anything “not material” against that is a small cheque. That is our reading, not an Elbit statement.

Fifty years under the ice

ISE was founded in 1974. It is headquartered in Port Coquitlam, B.C., with an Atlantic office at COVE in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Its best-known work is Arctic. The Theseus AUV, built for Canada’s Department of National Defence, laid fibre-optic cables up to 220 km long under roughly 2.5 m of ice. It ran for more than 60 hours continuously under the ice in 1996. These are ISE claims. ISE’s Explorer AUVs ran under-ice bathymetry missions for Canada’s UNCLOS seabed submission in 2010. Three of them covered 320, 280 and 320 km over 12 days (IEEE OCEANS 2010). Explorer is offered in depth ratings up to 6,000 m.

The company’s 2021 trial videos show where the product is heading: autonomous docking. The vehicle finds a subsea dock acoustically, switches to visual tracking for the final approach, and latches on without a diver or tether. That is the building block for resident underwater drones that recharge and offload data on station.

Seagull on top, Explorer below

Elbit already sells Seagull, an unmanned surface vessel in 12 m and 20 m versions for mine countermeasures and anti-submarine warfare. Elbit said in 2025 that “dozens” of its USVs are in service. Saar Koursh, SVP and GM of Elbit Naval Systems, told Breaking Defense that ISE complements Seagull. He described the goal as “a complete multi-domain autonomous ecosystem, integrating UAVs, USVs and AUVs into a single mission framework.” In other words, Elbit can now sell the boat, the drone overhead and the robot that goes under the water.

The timing fits Elbit’s wider naval push. Breaking Defense notes a submarine-components line with Germany’s TKMS (February) and an MOU with TKMS (May).

Mid-sized fleet, heavyweight owner

By the makers’ own counts: Teledyne says it has delivered more than 1,300 Slocum gliders. HII says more than 750 REMUS vehicles have gone to 30+ countries, including 14 NATO navies (April 2026). L3Harris has cited 350+ Iver AUVs since 2021. Kongsberg said in 2024 it had passed 100 large HUGIN systems. ISE’s 250+ is a combined AUV and ROV count. The classes differ, so read this as a size reference. ISE is not a volume leader. It is a deep-water, under-ice specialist that now has a $32B-backlog prime behind it.

Four signals

• Whether ISE stays a Canadian-run unit and keeps DND programmes, or production shifts toward Israel.
• A first Elbit contract bundling Seagull with an ISE AUV for mine countermeasures.
• Any disclosure of the price in Elbit’s Q3/Q4 filings.
• Docking and resident-AUV deliveries, not just demos.