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Flanked by NATO allies and partners, the Baltic Sea is one of the world’s most strategically important waterways. It is a vital corridor for commerce, a flashpoint of great-power competition, and home to the undersea pipelines and cables that power Europe’s energy and digital economies.
I served nearly three and a half decades in the US Navy—including experiences planning BALTOPS as Deputy Commander of US 2nd Fleet and later as Commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 2—during which I witnessed firsthand that a free and stable Baltic is essential to European security. I also observed during military planning sessions that the region was exposed. Its narrow geography, proximity to adversaries, and dependence on critical infrastructure make it acutely vulnerable to disruption.
Today, traditional approaches—periodic patrols and episodic surveillance—are no longer sufficient to deter or defeat the threats facing our NATO partners. Securing the Baltic now demands capabilities that are persistent, adaptive, and intelligent. That belief, shaped by decades at sea and sharpened by today’s evolving threat environment, is what brought me to Saildrone. Persistent, autonomous systems like ours are no longer optional; they are foundational to credible maritime defense. In a region defined by proximity, speed, and complexity, Saildrone provides the continuous presence and real-time intelligence needed to close critical gaps. Without it, Europe’s security architecture will remain incomplete.
Maritime Domain Awareness Without Blind Spots
The Baltic is a dense, contested waterway: a crossroads of constant commercial traffic, unconventional threats, and adversaries eager to exploit any lapse in awareness. Traditional patrols inevitably leave gaps, and in those gaps, risk grows. That’s why maritime domain awareness is the foundation of security in the region. Baltic nations must maintain a persistent, comprehensive picture of what’s happening on, above, and below the surface. As one regional policymaker put it, “awareness is deterrence,” and that awareness is not a luxury; it is the first layer of defense.
Saildrone delivers that persistent, autonomous, and real-time awareness, closing the blind spots that manned fleets cannot. Operating continuously 24/7/365 with mission-tailored sensor packages, our vehicles patrol for months without crews or refueling, powered by wind and solar energy. Deployed in coordinated fleets, they blanket approaches, sea lanes, and chokepoints, extending the reach of coast guards and navies and multiplying the impact of limited assets. The result is wide-area maritime surveillance, sustained for months on end, turning the Baltic from a patchwork of uncertainty into a domain that can be monitored, understood, and defended around the clock.
Persistent ISR Without Limits
Awareness is only the first step. To stay ahead of sophisticated threats, commanders must turn raw data into actionable intelligence—intelligence that anticipates rather than reacts, revealing hostile behavior, tracking targets across domains, and informing decisions in real time. Adversaries in the region are using irregular tactics: Russian AGI operations are expanding, commercial vessels are being weaponized for jamming and spoofing, and the electromagnetic spectrum is manipulated to hide intent.
Saildrone delivers the next layer of decision advantage. Data collected from our advanced electro-optical, radar, AIS, and acoustic sensors is processed on the edge by powerful artificial intelligence algorithms and machine learning models, detecting and prioritizing threats as they emerge. This enables Saildrone to expose hidden, multidomain activity—including undersea risks—and provide decision-makers with timely, meaningful intelligence that stays ahead of evolving threats.
Securing Critical Undersea Infrastructure: the Unseen Lifelines of the Baltic
Even with persistent awareness and real-time intelligence, the mission is incomplete without securing the most vulnerable part of the maritime battlespace: the seabed. Europe’s prosperity and its deterrence credibility depend on critical infrastructure beneath the Baltic, where pipelines and fiber-optic cables serve as the silent arteries of its economy. Their disruption can cripple energy markets, sever communications, and fracture alliances, as seen with the Nord Stream sabotage and repeated cable interruptions. Yet these networks remain difficult to monitor, while a growing “shadow fleet” manipulates AIS transponders to evade detection.
Saildrone provides the persistent visibility needed to protect these unseen lifelines. Our vehicles patrol critical nodes continuously for months, conduct undersea surveys, detect suspicious activity, and deliver early warning before damage is done. Simply put, you cannot defend what you cannot see—and Saildrone ensures that activity beneath the surface is continuously monitored, exposing threats to pipelines, cables, and seabed infrastructure before they can materialize.
A Core Component of the Future Baltic Hybrid Fleet
The nature of maritime warfare is changing, and traditional fleets—built for high-end conflict—were never designed for persistent surveillance, infrastructure defense, or gray-zone deterrence. Nations now recognize that the future is hybrid: crewed ships, uncrewed platforms, and advanced sensors working together. Saildrone is already part of that future.
With over a decade of operational experience and 60,000+ cumulative days at sea, we’ve proven our ability to go farther, last longer, and deliver the intelligence advantage needed to defend sovereignty and secure vital infrastructure. And with a variety of business models available to support our customers, Saildrone delivers this capability at a fraction of the cost of crewed assets.
RADM Carlos Sardiello, Commander of the US Navy’s 4th Fleet, shared an important Center of Naval Analysis study in his September 2025 US Naval Institute article, “Develop the Hybrid Fleet in SOUTHCOM,” concluding Saildrone’s cost per nautical mile of surveillance is less than 5% of that of a guided missile destroyer.
By providing unmatched range, precision, endurance, and affordability, Saildrone multiplies the effectiveness of allied fleets, freeing crewed ships for high-end missions only humans can perform while delivering the persistent surveillance and domain awareness modern deterrence demands.
In the Baltic, this hybrid approach leads to one outcome: lasting security.
A Strategic Advantage for the Region
Persistent, autonomous ISR is no longer optional—it is the backbone of modern maritime defense. Without it, the Baltic will remain a tapestry of exploitable gaps; with it, the region can be monitored, defended, and secured. Saildrone’s unmatched persistence, precision, range, and endurance deliver a quantifiable force multiplier for Baltic states. By augmenting existing fleets and surveillance networks, our platforms provide actionable intelligence where and when it matters most: helping to defend sovereignty, secure commerce, and protect the infrastructure underwriting European strength.
In an era of heightened tension and gray zone threats, Baltic nations need partners who can deliver intelligence dominance at sea. Saildrone’s rugged, wind- and solar-powered uncrewed surface vehicles have already sailed more than two million nautical miles, from the North Sea to the Southern Ocean, proving their endurance and resilience in the harshest conditions. Now, we are ready to scale that proven capability and deliver the persistent maritime advantage the region’s security demands.
