Lockheed invests in Saildrone to arm USVs

Lockheed Martin has announced a $50 million investment in Saildrone to integrate what the companies describe as combat-capable weapons and sensors onto Saildrone’s unmanned surface vehicles, with work beginning immediately and on-water, live-fire demonstrations planned for 2026, the company stated.

The partnership will focus on fitting Saildrone’s Surveyor platform with Lockheed Martin systems using an open architecture and secure command-and-control links, the company stated.

The press release cites ongoing work to integrate the JAGM Quad Launcher and notes that larger Saildrone designs are being developed to support heavier payloads, including a Mk70 vertical launch system and thin line towed arrays, according to the company.

Lockheed Martin framed the collaboration as a way to accelerate the US Navy’s adoption of autonomous surface platforms for missions such as fleet defence, undersea surveillance, reconnaissance, and strike. The company said the effort combines commercial autonomy with what it describes as “trusted” military technology, according to the company.

“Lockheed Martin and Saildrone are leading the way to answer President Trump’s call for the defence industry to act differently and leverage the strength of all of industry for our national defence. Together, we are combining the most sophisticated commercial and defence technologies to deliver a lethal naval solution at speed and scale. The nation needs this capability to maintain dominance over our adversaries, and we will deliver it,” said Stephanie C. Hill, president of Rotary and Mission Systems at Lockheed Martin, quoted in the press release.

Saildrone’s founder and chief executive, Richard Jenkins, described the move as a natural progression after a decade of autonomy development.

“For the last 10 years, we have focused on evolving the reliability, endurance, and autonomy of the Saildrone platform, which has been demonstrated in over 2 million nautical miles of active customer missions. With our technology proven, de-risked, and mission-ready, now is the right time to augment Saildrone USVs with sophisticated payloads to meet warfighter needs. This collaboration will give Saildrone the tools we need to transform the capabilities of our platforms, to include electronic warfare, anti-submarine warfare, sophisticated surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as deploying kinetic effects, all seamlessly integrated with Lockheed Martin’s trusted command, control, and fire control systems,” he said.