Developing Australia’s Security Defensive Capabilities Through Undersea Technology

Undersea Defence Technology (UDT) Australia will take place from December 2 to 4, 2026 in Adelaide, South Australia. The three-day programme includes a two-day expo and conference held in a single hall to enable seamless access and interaction for all attendees, followed by a one-day industry visit programme.

The event is expected to attract between 1,500 and 2,000 delegates, representing defence, industry, and academia across Australia, Asia-Pacific, Indo-Pacific and the wider global community. UDT Australia continues the mission of the UDT series, focusing on undersea defence technology and collaboration.

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UDT 2025 - the largest global event dedicated to undersea defence technology

UDT Australia 2026 Theme: Engineering the Undersea Future

UDT Australia 2026’s theme of "Engineering the Undersea Future" reflects the need to accelerate innovation and translate emerging technologies into operational undersea capability. UDT Australia will prioritise conversations and investment across four key sub-themes: Autonomy, Application, Agility, Human Factors.

This theme reflects a challenge across Indo-Pacific's undersea defence community, while investment in technologies including AI-enabled systems, autonomous platforms, and distributed sensing continues, success will depend on how these capabilities are engineered, integrated, and delivered into service. For Australia, it's partners and the surrounding Indo-Pacific region, this means strengthening sovereign capability, enabling collaboration across industry and research, and ensuring the workforce can support the next generation of undersea operations.

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UDT Australia 2026 Sub-Themes

Autonomy

The role of autonomous and unmanned systems in extending reach, persistence, and decision-making in maritime environments.

Application

The need to integrate new technologies into deployable capability as threats evolve and undersea infrastructure becomes more critical.

Agility

Delivering capability through development, procurement, and scalable delivery across Australia’s defence and industrial base.

Human Factors

Integrating people, skills, and training to operate, sustain, and optimise undersea systems.

What is UDT Australia? 

The Conference Programme at UDT Australia

UDT Australia continues the mission of the UDT series, bringing together the technical expertise of the undersea defence community, exploring emerging and existing threats and prospects within the underwater defence domain. This will be witnessed through technical presentations, in-depth case studies, and the sharing of proven best practices.

With 1,500 - 2,000 attendees expected, UDT Australia will connect senior military leaders, government representatives, industry experts, and researchers from across the region and beyond. It provides a unique platform to share knowledge, address evolving security challenges, and drive innovation in undersea defence capabilities.

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Conference
Exhibiting

Exhibition & Exhibitors

The launch of UDT Australia brings new opportunities for exhibitors, with newly launched initiatives such as the engaged onsite networking acitivites, it will allow exhibitors and industry alike to engage, and connect with existing peers, potential new clients, and industry leaders.

With a strong focus on collaboration, UDT Australia will bring together defence, industry, and academia from Australia, the wider Indo-Pacific, and the global undersea community.

Exhibiting at UDT (opens in a new tab)

Meet The Wider South Australian Defence Ecosystem

SMEs and  Hubs

Engage with South Australian SMEs, innovation hubs, and emerging districts driving advancements in defence technology and development

Unparelled Access

Provide access to leading industry manufacturers throughout the global supply chain aimed at working in collaboration with the government to offer solutions to the current and future Underwater threats

Technical Conference

Provide a platform for Australian and other leading Asia-Pacific governments to promote their Undersea Defence capability programmes and identifying where industry can play a pivotal part.

ChallengeUDT

Newcomer Zone

Discover a UDT series first, UDT Australia will introduce the Newcomer Zone. Bringing Australian based start-ups and SMEs powering defence and security industry advancements to the showfloor. This opportunity will allow attendees and exhibitors alike to create invaluable connections with the Newcomers through afternoon networking events and live product demonstrations on the presentation stage.

More details will be available on the Newcomer Zone in early 2026.

What our customers and attendees say about the UDT Series

For me, UDT 2025 was so interesting, to hear from people who are absolute experts in some really niche topics. That’s really exciting, because you don’t get always the chance to see people, network, ask some questions face to face, hear their presentations and see the actual data that they have in that area.
Quote from UDT 2025

Nancy Setchell (2025)
Autonomous Capability Development Manager |  OSI Maritime Systems

UDT is important to us an organisation, we meet people, network, connect, and look at the breadth of what’s going on across the industry, and see where technology trends are going.
Quote from UDT 2024

Andrew Carr
Head of Engineering & Technology (Underwater Weapons) |  BAE Systems Surface Ships Ltd

The show has evolved over the years, MeetMe is excellent and a great way to connect. One of the nice things about UDT is that everybody you might want to meet— Government, Industry, Armed Forces, Navy, are all here under one roof.
Quote from UDT 2025

John Brosnan
UK Defence & Security Director, |  Australian Trade and Investment Commission
UDT is been a great show for us so far, and its given us great visibility towards existing and new customers. It has helped us achieve our goals through the people walking in the floor here, new contacts within existing major defence companies, which is one of the goals we had for joining this show.
Quote from UDT 2024
Pontus Runesson
Technical Sales Engineer |  Glenair