18 July 2025 | News
Image Courtesy: Public Domain
Blue Water Autonomy, Inc., the technology company building autonomous ships for the U.S. Navy, today announced the opening of a Washington, D.C. office and the hiring of Ryan Maatta, a principal engineer with broad and recent experience delivering the most advanced autonomous ships.
"The establishment of Blue Water Autonomy's Washington, D.C. office is a natural next step for us," said CEO Rylan Hamilton. "This third location supports our growing company and increases our workforce options while improving Blue Water's accessibility for our Navy customer."
The expanded footprint in the capital comes as Blue Water Autonomy's unmanned ship segment shows increased urgency and attention. The latest defense budget authorization includes $2.1B in Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel funding, and the U.S. Navy recently held a Future Unmanned Surface Vessel industry day to outline its plans for new vessel development.
Blue Water Autonomy also announced the addition of Ryan Maatta to its growing team. Ryan brings decades of marine engineering and operations experience, and most recently held a senior technical leadership on USX-1 Defiant – the vessel built for DARPA's No Manning Required Ship (NOMARS) Program.
"We're a team of hands-on builders, and his multiple shipboard tours as chief engineer makes him a great addition to the team," said CTO Scott N. Miller. Miller, who has taken 100+ commercial products to market, including iRobot's Roomba, leads Blue Water Autonomy's growing technology team, many of them veterans of Boston's robotics hub. Maatta's arrival comes just weeks after Blue Water welcomed COO Tim Glinatsis, formerly of General Dynamics NASSCO and Bath Iron Works.
