Bernico Vanguard

TLDR

Bernico Vanguard is a Willebroek-based deep-tech company engineering high-performance surface vessels and unmanned surface vehicles for maritime defence and security.

Overview

Bernico Vanguard designs and builds high-speed surface vessels and unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) targeted at naval and maritime security applications. The company sits in the Belgian defense tech and maritime engineering space, an area that has attracted renewed attention across Europe.

The company is a defense-focused arm of Bernico, the high-performance powerboat builder founded by Nico Bertels in 1991, and was registered as a separate Belgian entity in 2025.

Key People

• Nico Bertels - Founder
• Henri t'Kint - Director