Saildrone and Umoe Mandal Sign Production Agreement for Surveyor at Euronaval

Saildrone and Umoe Mandal today signed a production agreement under which the Norwegian shipbuilder will manufacture the next-generation Saildrone Surveyor unmanned surface vehicle (USV). The signing took place at EURONAVAL 2026 in Paris, formalizing the manufacturing partnership announced earlier this year.

The agreement combines Saildrone’s autonomous maritime systems technology with Umoe Mandal’s shipbuilding expertise and advanced composite manufacturing capabilities. Umoe Mandal’s role in producing the Surveyor will strengthen Europe’s maritime defense industrial base and support the delivery of sovereign maritime domain awareness capabilities to Northern European navies.

“Our agreement with Umoe Mandal is an investment in serving European customers over the long term, working with partners on European soil,” said Robert Kleist, managing director of Saildrone Europe. “The Saildrone Surveyor will provide persistent maritime domain awareness in strategically important waters, including the Baltic and North Seas, as well as Arctic waters, while giving customers sovereign control over their operations and data.”

For Umoe Mandal, the collaboration builds on decades of experience in designing and manufacturing advanced maritime structures and vessels. 

“We see a strong strategic fit between Saildrone’s technology and Umoe Mandal’s experience in advanced maritime platforms and composite construction,” said Tom Fidjeland, CEO of Umoe Mandal. “This partnership gives us an opportunity to combine proven autonomous technology with Norwegian industrial capability and contribute to building a strong and resilient European capacity for uncrewed maritime systems.”

The Saildrone Surveyor is designed for extreme-endurance operations to monitor maritime activity across large ocean areas, including shipping corridors and waters surrounding critical undersea infrastructure. Operating alongside traditional naval and surveillance assets, Surveyor extends monitoring coverage while allowing those assets to focus on other operational priorities.

Saildrone opened its European headquarters in Copenhagen this summer and announced additional manufacturing partnerships in the Netherlands and Poland. The company recently began a year-long maritime surveillance mission supporting the Swedish Navy under the Nordic Defence Cooperation framework.

Building on the Surveyor production agreement, Saildrone and Umoe Mandal will explore additional opportunities to manufacture, integrate, and support Saildrone platforms in Europe.

The agreement closely follows an announcement that Sweden had launched a year-long maritime surveillance mission in the Baltic Sea using four Saildrone Voyager USVs under the Nordic Defence Cooperation (NORDEFCO) framework.