Lockheed Martin to invest $50M into Saildrone, plans to equip USVs with missile launchers
This announcement is “transformational for us,” Saildrone CEO Richard Jenkins told Breaking Defense in an interview today.
This announcement is “transformational for us,” Saildrone CEO Richard Jenkins told Breaking Defense in an interview today.
In an exclusive interview with Breaking Defense, two senior Navy officials said they’re willing to accept some industry friction and take “calculated risks” to get the Modular Attack Surface Craft program right.
Mustin served in the US Navy for 34 years and retired in September 2024.
“Leveraging Palantir’s sophisticated manufacturing and AI tools will allow us to streamline manufacturing and radically enhance fleet capabilities,” said Richard Jenkins, Saildrone’s CEO
“Southern Spear will operationalize a heterogeneous mix of robotic and autonomous systems (RAS) to support the detection and monitoring of illicit trafficking while learning lessons for other theaters,” said Cmdr. Foster Edwards, 4th Fleet’s hybrid fleet director.
The recruitment of a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is a major win for Saildrone, which has been building its profile in US Navy circles since 2020.
The US Navy laid out its unmanned strategy at the start of the year, and these stories show some strides the service has taken.
"If someone takes it, good luck. Keep it, it's worthless. We’ve got hundreds of them," said Richard Jenkins, chief executive officer of Saildrone.