Swedish-Estonian Cross Water builds a plug-in navy boat

Swedish-Estonian boatbuilder Cross Water, which also trades as XW Production, wants to turn a military rigid inflatable boat into a platform that can take on different missions. Its XW Modular family uses aluminum hulls with structural rails built into the deck. Consoles, seats, sensors and other mission gear clip onto those rails without tools, so operators can switch a boat from diving support to drone launching or surveillance instead of buying a separate boat for each job.

“Boats today are where phones were in 2006: one device, one job,” said Jürgen Visnapuu, CEO and co-founder of Cross Water.

The 7.5 m (25 ft) XW Modular 750 is in its second year of service with navy divers and special operations forces in a NATO country the company does not name. In September that navy took the boat to Portugal for REPMUS 2026, the annual NATO-backed exercise for uncrewed maritime systems. Dutch company Lobster Robotics launched and operated its new-generation seabed drone from the 750’s deck, among other uses. On that operational record, Cross Water rates the 750 at Technology Readiness Level 9, the highest level, meaning a system proven in real missions.

“You have no idea how often we think back to this boat,” said Daan de Groot, chief technology officer and co-founder of Lobster Robotics, which first worked from the boat in 2025. “It has been the best we have used, by a long shot.”

The Defence Blog first reported on the XW Modular 750 in August 2025, when the company said the boat had already spent two years in trials in the Baltic Sea and on Lake Peipus, on Estonia’s border with Russia, where Estonian border guards operate in rough conditions. Cross Water was also working then with Tallinn University of Technology on autonomy modules.

The company’s next step is software. Its in-house Vessel Manager system is meant to act as the boat’s operating system, recognizing which modules are mounted and where, and running everything on deck as a single system, including remote control and later autonomy. Cross Water plans to introduce remote operation in 2027, followed by autonomous, optionally crewed operation.

“Autonomy is an upgrade, not a new boat,” Visnapuu said. “A navy runs the hull crewed today and adds remote operation and autonomy to the same hull later.”

The first mission modules are being co-developed with partner companies that Cross Water has not yet named. Visnapuu said any company that puts a sensor or drone on the water or in the air could become a module on the platform.

Cross Water is now building a larger 10.5 m (34 ft) model in Estonia, due to launch in spring 2027. Designed by co-founder Niclas Kling, a naval architect who previously worked at the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration, the new boat is built for a top speed of 60 knots (111 km/h) and will be the first to carry Vessel Manager.

The company has also built a 750 for a customer in the Gulf that is awaiting shipment. It offers its boats both for sale and as a full-service rental, plans to exhibit at IDEX 2027 in Abu Dhabi in January, and has put a free 3D configurator online that lets anyone design a mission layout on the boat.