Saildrone floating on calm water under a clear sky.
[
Maritime Domain Awareness
]

Persistent Intelligence for Maritime Forces

Autonomous systems engineered for high-endurance and wide-area detection, classification, and tracking—delivering the decision advantage required to secure national and global maritime interests.

Saildrone provides real-time, wide-area maritime domain awareness (MDA) using long-endurance unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) equipped with advanced payloads. By combining autonomous navigation, AI-powered detection, and multi-sensor fusion, Saildrone delivers decision-quality intelligence across vast ocean regions—at a fraction of the cost and risk associated with manned assets.

[
What Saildrone Delivers
]

Strategic Maritime Superiority

Saildrone provides persistent intelligence using fully autonomous USVs. Operating for months without refueling, these systems detect, classify, and track vessels across wide maritime regions, delivering real-time, decision-quality data to maritime security operators.

01

Persistent surveillance using radar, EO/IR, AIS, and custom payload integrations

02

Real-time detection and classification of cooperative and non-cooperative vessels

03

Autonomous patrol patterns that maintain continuous coverage without human steering

04

Wide-area tracking across EEZs, chokepoints, and remote maritime zones

05

Continuous information flow to C2 systems for situational awareness and response

[
Sensor & Data Architecture
]

Integrated Sensing for Enhanced Intelligence

Saildrone USVs carry standardized payloads that combine radar, EO/IR cameras, AIS, and onboard automation. These sensors operate continuously to detect vessel activity and provide correlated tracks in near real time.

Electro-optical / Infrared Cameras

High-resolution imagery with onboard AI/ML detection algorithms for identifying vessels, small craft, and anomalous activity.

Radar

Reliable detection of non-cooperative and non-AIS targets, performing in poor visibility, at night, and in congested waters.


Automatic Identification System (AIS)

AIS receivers continuously ingest signals from cooperative vessels and correlate them with radar and EO/IR detections to highlight identity, behavior, and anomalies.


Navigation

GNSS, inertial sensors, and onboard computing systems support autonomous routing, collision avoidance, and adherence to mission patterns without human steering or GPS dependence.

Secure Data Delivery

Data transmission through encrypted links to the Saildrone Mission Portal or your preferred C2 system.

Autonomous Saildrone with a Danish flag sailing on choppy ocean waters under a cloudy sky.
[
Why Saildrone
]

Proven Operations in the Harshest Environments

Endurance without refueling

The Saildrone Wing, in addition to augmenting propulsion systems, enables months-long missions without fuel logistics, extending persistent ISR far beyond conventional patrol patterns.

Low-signature operations

Minimal acoustic and radar signatures enable discrete monitoring in contested or high-risk regions.

Operational resilience

Saildrone USVs operate in remote theaters and withstand extreme weather conditions without requiring manned oversight.

Scalable coverage

Systems can be deployed individually or as a distributed fleet to extend surveillance across thousands of square nautical miles.

[
Recent missions
]

Demonstrated Impact in Real-world Missions

Saildrone platforms have delivered persistent MDA intelligence to domestic and international Navies, Coast Guards, and maritime border security forces globally, operating through hurricanes, major winter storms, and remote maritime areas without local support.

Operationalizing Saildrone to Counter Drug Trafficking and Illegal Fishing

The Navy brought unmanned systems to US Fourth Fleet to support long-term operations that counter drug trafficking and illegal fishing.

12,500 sq nm

Total area covered

116,000

Unique contacts detected

$4.25

Cost per sq nm per day

Enhancing Border Monitoring with Persistent MDA

5

Number of vehicles

30,000

Number of detections

94%

Operational efficiency

Providing Persistent MDA in Remote Areas for USCG

The USCG examined the feasibility, costs, and benefits of using low-cost autonomous vehicles to provide persistent maritime domain awareness in the Pacific Ocean.

6

Number of vehicles

39

Days at sea

Integrating USVs & AI into an Operational Maritime Environment

The US Navy’s 5th Fleet and its regional partners created a network of unmanned systems, networks, and AI tools to detect abnormal maritime behaviors and cue manned ships to respond.

8

Number of vehicles

2

Deployment locations