An interoperable and standardized underwater communication is essential for various application scenarios. In the recent past, significant progress has been made concerning standardization, including the new NATO standards JANUS and IFS als well as the SALSA project. The ELAC UT 3000 underwater communication system fulfils all relevant interoperability requirements and includes different digital data interfaces. Future system architectures on submarines and surface vessels will require a new architecture of underwater communication systems, including smart transducers and communication “apps” to be installed on processing environments provided by system integrators.