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Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor)

Saildrone (founded 2012 in Alameda, California by Richard Jenkins, with retired three-star admiral John Mustin as president) is the canonical commercial…

Track Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor)
Manufacturer
Saildrone
Form factor
maritime_surface
Maturity
commercial
Lifecycle
active
Deployments
2
Website
saildrone.com ↗

Overview

Saildrone (founded 2012 in Alameda, California by Richard Jenkins, with retired three-star admiral John Mustin as president) is the canonical commercial autonomous surface vessel company, operating wind- and solar-powered uncrewed surface vehicles for ocean data collection, mapping, and maritime domain awareness. Its line spans the 7-meter Explorer, the 10-meter Voyager, and the 20-meter Surveyor, with a new 52-meter diesel-electric hybrid Spectre announced in 2026 for delivery in 2027 that departs from the wind-and-solar identity. It runs a captive mission-operation model, owning and operating the fleet and selling data and outcomes rather than vessels, with customers including NOAA, the US Navy's 4th Fleet for counter-narcotics and illegal-fishing work, and Denmark's EIFO, and funding including a $100 million Series C, a $60 million EIFO round in May 2025, and a $50 million Lockheed Martin strategic investment in October 2025. The registry records it at commercial maturity, the most mature commercial surface-autonomy player, on twelve-plus years of operation, 130-plus vehicles, and recurring contracts. A significant cap-flag applies to its cumulative-scale figures, which are inconsistent across its own channels: an October 2023 primary milestone of 1,042,620 nautical miles, 32,438 days at sea, and 136 vehicles is the defensible verified anchor, while its homepage now claims more than 2 million nautical miles and a separate 2026 figure cites 2.5 million miles, both with the day-count frozen at 60,000, so the 2-to-2.5-million-mile claims are treated as not verified. The strongest discrete verified scale is its Navy 4th Fleet operation of about 130,000 nautical miles over roughly 2,700 mission-days. Its autonomy is genuine, though the degree of human supervision during missions is undisclosed.

Verified vs. claimed

Maturity stage
commercial(Commercially deployed with revenue-generating operations.)
Verified deployments
2 deployments on file
Sources on file
4 sources, view all

Key facts

Length

Explorer 7 m, Voyager 10 m, Surveyor 20 m, Spectre 52 m

Operating speed

~27 kn (Spectre)

Range

~3,280 nm (Spectre)

Price

~$40M/unit (Spectre)

Verified cumulative scale

1,042,620 nautical miles, 32,438 days at sea, 136 vehicles (Oct 2023 anchor)

Specs

Notes

Verified: Saildrone (founded 2012, Alameda CA; founder Richard Jenkins; President ret. Adm. John Mustin) is the canonical commercial autonomous surface vessel. Customers: NOAA (hurricane/ocean data), US Navy 4th Fleet (counter-narcotics/illegal-fishing; strongest discrete verified scale: ~130,000 nm, ~2,700 mission-days, 116,000 contacts), Denmark/EIFO (4 Voyagers). Funding: $100M Series C (BOND) + $60M EIFO (May 2025) + $50M Lockheed Martin (Oct 2025)., CAP-FLAG (cumulative scale inconsistent): Saildrone's cumulative numbers DRIFT across its own channels: Oct 2023 primary milestone = 1,042,620 nm / 32,438 days / 136 vehicles (the defensible verified anchor); homepage now says '2M+ nm / 60,000 days'; Naval News (Apr 2026) says '2.5M miles / 60,000 days' - day-count frozen at 60,000 across two mile-counts. Treat 2M-2.5M nm as claimed-not-verified. ~$374M total funding is an aggregator (Tracxn) figure., AI-substance: genuine autonomy: Long-endurance unattended ocean transits well beyond remote-piloting range. Genuine autonomy; degree of human-on-the-loop supervision during missions is not disclosed (unverified). maturity=commercial (12+ yr, 130+ vehicles, recurring Navy/NOAA/allied contracts, in-production new platforms).

Specs

Wind+solar USV classes: Explorer (7m, ocean data), Voyager (10m, coastal defense/mapping), Surveyor (20m, bathymetric + Lockheed JAGM integration). Spectre (announced 2026): 52m diesel-electric hybrid, ~27 kn, ~3,280 nm range, ~$40M/unit (Fincantieri-built, 2027 delivery) - a departure from the wind/solar identity. Captive mission-operation / data-as-a-service (owns + operates the fleet, sells data/outcomes; does NOT sell vessels).

Form Factor

maritime (autonomous SURFACE vessel / USV; wind+solar long-endurance ocean autonomy)

Data & sources

Press releases

2

Web sources

2

4 sources backing this record.View all →

Availability and pricing

Availability
Not sold (internal use)
Price
Not publicly disclosed
Units in field
Not disclosed
Sales model
Not disclosed
Lead time
Not disclosed

Pricing

No verified price is on record for Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor). Physical-AI systems are often sold through enterprise contracts or operated as a service rather than at a public list price.

How DEPLOY tracks pricing

Deployments (2)

Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor) on the deployment map

Where Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor) is verified operating. Explore the deployment map by place and type.

Recent activity

Every change to this record is dated, sourced, and independently verified where marked.

Full change history →

Previous generations

The historical entries remain on the registry for reference; current coverage tracks this generation.

Deployment-verified media (4)

PRIMARY SOURCE
Courtesy of Saildrone

Saildrone footage from its 2023 hurricane-season mission with NOAA, collecting tropical-cyclone data in the Atlantic. Autonomy is sail-powered navigation and endurance; the mission is NOAA-tasked, not autonomously planned.

From deployment: Kodiak

PRIMARY SOURCE
Courtesy of Saildrone

Saildrone footage from its 2024 hurricane mission with NOAA, with an Explorer-class vehicle collecting data inside Atlantic hurricanes. The data-collection autonomy is navigation and endurance; the mission is NOAA-tasked and human-directed, not self-planned.

From deployment: Kodiak

PRIMARY SOURCE
Courtesy of Saildrone

Saildrone's overview of its Surveyor-class uncrewed surface vehicle, built for long-range autonomous ISR and deep-ocean mapping with sensor-fusion payloads. Autonomy is navigation and endurance; mission tasking is supervised.

From deployment: Kodiak

PRIMARY SOURCE
Courtesy of Saildrone

Saildrone footage of its wind- and solar-powered autonomous surface vehicles in a maritime-domain-awareness context. Navigation and endurance are autonomous; missions are tasking-supervised.

From deployment: Kodiak

Supply chain (2)

Sensors

  • KongsbergKongsberg EM 304 MKII multibeam echo sounder -- deep-water bathymetric mapping on Saildrone Surveyor (to 7,000 m depth)supplies
  • NovAtelNovAtel OEM7 precision GNSS -- sub-decimetre positioning for autonomous ocean navigationsuppliesclaimed

Suppliers appear here when verified with at least two strong sources (maker-official / IR / regulatory / standards-body / verified tier-2). Sources are append-only; corrections add new sources rather than rewrite history.

Safety record

No incidents on record for Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor).

Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.

Sources (4)

  1. https://www.saildrone.com/news/saildrone-surpasses-one-million-nautical-miles
  2. https://breakingdefense.com/2025/10/lockheed-martin-invests-50m-in-saildrone/
  3. https://www.navalnews.com/event-news/sea-air-space-2026/saildrone-spectre/
  4. https://www.saildrone.com/missions/maritime-security

Compare Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor)

Common questions

What is Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor)?
Saildrone (founded 2012 in Alameda, California by Richard Jenkins, with retired three-star admiral John Mustin as president) is the canonical commercial autonomous surface vessel company, operating wind- and solar-powered uncrewed surface vehicles for ocean data collection, mapping, and maritime domain awareness. Its line spans the 7-meter Explorer, the 10-meter Voyager, and the 20-meter Surveyor, with a new 52-meter diesel-electric hybrid Spectre announced in 2026 for delivery in 2027 that departs from the wind-and-solar identity. It runs a captive mission-operation model, owning and operating the fleet and selling data and outcomes rather than vessels, with customers including NOAA, the US Navy's 4th Fleet for counter-narcotics and illegal-fishing work, and Denmark's EIFO, and funding including a $100 million Series C, a $60 million EIFO round in May 2025, and a $50 million Lockheed Martin strategic investment in October 2025. The registry records it at commercial maturity, the most mature commercial surface-autonomy player, on twelve-plus years of operation, 130-plus vehicles, and recurring contracts. A significant cap-flag applies to its cumulative-scale figures, which are inconsistent across its own channels: an October 2023 primary milestone of 1,042,620 nautical miles, 32,438 days at sea, and 136 vehicles is the defensible verified anchor, while its homepage now claims more than 2 million nautical miles and a separate 2026 figure cites 2.5 million miles, both with the day-count frozen at 60,000, so the 2-to-2.5-million-mile claims are treated as not verified. The strongest discrete verified scale is its Navy 4th Fleet operation of about 130,000 nautical miles over roughly 2,700 mission-days. Its autonomy is genuine, though the degree of human supervision during missions is undisclosed.
How much does Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor) cost?
Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor)'s price is not publicly disclosed. DEPLOY has no verified price on record for Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor) from Saildrone. Physical-AI systems like this are often sold through enterprise contracts or operated as a service rather than at a public list price; check the manufacturer for the latest.
Is Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor) actually deployed in the real world?
Yes. Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor) is independently verified in real-world operation on the DEPLOY registry, confirmed at named deployment sites with primary sources: not a concept, render, or demo-only.
Who makes Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor)?
Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor) is made by Saildrone, based in Alameda, California, USA, founded in 2012.
Where is Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor) deployed?
2 verified deployments of Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor) are on the DEPLOY registry, including at Global Ocean, Kodiak.
Methodology: Verified · 4 sources (2 primary) · last reviewed 2026-07-12

Verification posture

Verified

High confidence

Review state

Stable

Last reviewed 2026-07-12

Maturity + lifecycle

Maturity stage: commercial

Lifecycle: active

Architectural position

Cohort: maritime_surface

Sources by quality tier

2
primary-company-ir
Company IR disclosure
2
unclassified
Unclassified source

The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.

Methodology surface for Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor).

Recent coverage

Saildrone USV (Explorer / Voyager / Surveyor) in third-party press

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Jul 1, 2026

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