Saildrone

Saildrone, Inc. is a maritime autonomy company headquartered in Alameda, California. It was founded in 2012 by the engineer Richard Jenkins, who leads it as chief executive. The company designs, builds and operates uncrewed surface vehicles and usually sells the collected data and surveillance as a managed service rather than the vessels themselves. In May 2025 Saildrone announced a European entity based in Copenhagen, and in August 2026 it opened its European headquarters there, at Holmen, together with production partners in the Netherlands, Norway and Poland.

The fleet comprises the Explorer for ocean and climate data, the 10 m Voyager for near-shore surveillance and coastal mapping, and the 20 m Surveyor, which combines a diesel engine with the wind-powered Saildrone Wing for deep-water mapping and long-range ISR. In April 2026 the company presented Spectre, a 52 m high-speed USV with modular payloads for anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and strike missions, which it intends to offer for the US Navy’s Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel programme.

Saildrone vehicles have been used by the US Navy, including a fleet of Voyagers deployed from Key West for the US 4th Fleet’s Operation Windward Stack in the Caribbean from 2023. In June 2025 four Voyagers began operating in the Baltic Sea under contract to the Danish Armed Forces and took part in NATO’s Task Force X Baltic demonstration in the Gulf of Finland and the western Baltic. In October 2026 the Swedish Armed Forces, through the procurement agency FMV, contracted a year-long maritime domain awareness service in the Baltic with four Danish-flagged Voyagers, the first national deployment under the NORDEFCO framework.