Interview: Joe Wolfel, Terradepth
The CEO and former Navy SEAL discusses the Absolute Ocean cloud platform and the benefits of the US Navy’s new acquisition process.
Terradepth’s Absolute Ocean (AO) cloud platform has been fast-tracked for acquisition by the US Navy as an immediately available prototype. AO Onboard provides an on-vessel, browser-accessible computing capability that enables secure data access and visualization across vessel and shore. AO is now in the Rapid Capabilities Cell (RCC) “Hopper” at the Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic, which serves as a digital repository of competitively selected solutions that are available to be pulled for an other transaction agreement (OTA) for up to 24 months after the pitch date. The new Navy acquisition framework enables dramatic acceleration and scaling to deployment for undersea autonomy, data fusion, and decision advantage. Joe Wolfel, CEO of Terradepth and a former Navy SEAL, discussed these new developments with Ocean Economy.
Why do you think Terradepth’s technology was fast‐tracked by the US Navy?
I believe the Navy fast‐tracked Absolute Ocean because it already works: at scale, in required environments, and with the systems they’re using today. It delivers relevant operational speed and fits perfectly with how the Navy wants to bring mature commercial tech into service, faster.
Absolute Ocean is operating today in necessary environments. On top of that, it aligns perfectly with the Navy’s acquisition reform goals. Its scalable commercial technology is an open‐architecture, hardware‐agnostic, and deployable capability that works with existing sensors or vehicles.
Technologies like Absolute Ocean are ideal candidates for rapid pathways like the Defense Innovation Unit commercial solutions openings [CSOs] and other transaction agreements, where the Navy is specifically looking to move mature commercial and dual‐use tech into service faster.
What was the original application for Absolute Ocean, and what prompted the company to transition it to dual‐use?
We built Absolute Ocean from day one to solve a universal problem: how you turn massive subsea data into decisions at the speed of relevance. That challenge exists in defense, energy, infrastructure, and environmental missions alike, so dual‐use wasn’t a pivot for us, it was always the plan.
The platform was built from the start to ingest multi‐sensor data, process it at scale, and present it through an intuitive geospatial interface, with the capacity to federate, share, aggregate, and collaborate across multiple environments.
The data‐to‐decision challenges facing naval and national security missions have intensified amid ongoing tensions in the undersea theater. Exercises with Navy and Special Operations Forces users confirmed that Absolute Ocean could dramatically compress the sensor‐to‐decision loop for operations.
From personal experience, how has the time‐to‐field accelerated for private companies under the Navy’s new acquisition framework?
The difference is meaningful. What used to take years now takes months. The Navy’s newer acquisition pathways let companies like ours move proven technology straight into real operational use, meeting an evolving and urgent set of undersea national security needs.
The difference is dramatic. Under frameworks like CSOs and OTAs, companies with mature technology can move from initial concept to operational use in months instead of years.
In Terradepth’s case, Absolute Ocean progressed from pitch selection to inclusion in the RCC “Hopper,” which enables prototype awards and allows resource sponsors to move immediately when funding aligns.
Equally important, the process is more collaborative. The Navy is partnering with companies to identify real capabilities, rather than forcing commercial tech into challenging operational situations. For capabilities like Absolute Ocean that already meet security and compliance standards, that increases the speed and credibility of transition to operational use.
What existing US Navy technologies does Absolute Ocean work with to create a common operating picture?
Absolute Ocean is built to connect, integrate, and synthesize, not rip or replace.
We ingest data from Navy and third‐party systems and turn it into a single, clear operating picture so operators spend less time moving data and more time making decisions.
By ingesting data from Navy and third‐party systems, Absolute Ocean can provide relevant operational information to established Department of War C2 systems, giving insight to watch floors. The result is a much more comprehensive geospatial operating picture that combines live sensor data, AI/ML outputs, historical baselines, and intelligence overlays.
That interoperability is what allows Absolute Ocean to function as a true common operating picture across various maritime missions.
What’s next for Absolute Ocean in terms of specific Navy applications?
We’re moving from initial capability into broad operational deployment and mission-specific configurations — across numerous operations — while expanding edge processing so teams can act on data in near real time, wherever they are.
What is Terradepth’s focus in 2026?
In 2026, our focus is scale and execution: more missions, more users, and more data at decision speed. We’re advancing edge compute, autonomy, interoperability, and seabed intelligence to make Absolute Ocean the digital backbone for undersea operations.
Terradepth is focused on scaling validated capability that meets real-world operational needs. This includes further advancing Absolute Ocean’s edge compute capabilities through AO Onboard, expanding autonomous data analysis tools, and deepening integration with existing industry systems to support a broader range of data types and operational workflows.
At the same time, Terradepth is advancing large‐area seabed intelligence efforts in autonomous data acquisition through its attritable, self-recharging LUUV, expanding dual‐use UUV operations, and continuing to refine the platform as a digital backbone for undersea operations to compress the OODA loop via its unified Ocean Operating System.
The core goal is execution at lower cost and greater scale: more users, more missions, more data, delivered at decision speed and aligned with the most pressing needs.
Image Credit: Terradepth