Coast Guard, Saildrone team up in northern waters to boost border security, surveillance
The Voyager is equipped to conduct persistent coastal surveillance and nearshore mapping missions while remaining at sea for roughly 100 days at a time.
The sights of Sea Air Space Day 1
A selection of photos from the show floor on the first day of the Navy League's biggest conference.
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Built for another era, our air-and-missile-defense industrial base needs more builders
New entrants are filling unmet needs in air-and-missile defense.
Saildrone unveils new medium unmanned surface vessel for anti-sub warfare, ISR
The MUSV comes in two variants: the Spectre Silent Endurance, and the Spectre Stealth Strike.
Unmanned in the air and at sea at World Defense Show 2026
Middle East Bureau Chief Agnes Helou gets up close and personal with some American unmanned platforms in Saudi Arabia.
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.
‘Be uncomfortable’: Navy wants new USV to challenge the ‘status quo’
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.
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How defensive cyber responds to hockey-stick growth of AI-driven threats
Artificial intelligence is reshaping adversarial cyber operations at machine speed, requiring defenders to increase operational tempo while imposing pain and cost.
Defense Innovation Unit seeks undersea drone capable of ‘long-range’ payload deployment
The new solicitation broadly outlines what Navy leaders for years have sought from unmanned vehicles: multi-purpose trucks capable of carrying any payload of their choosing.
Saildrone taps retired 3-star admiral John Mustin as president
Mustin served in the US Navy for 34 years and retired in September 2024.
Saildrone, Palantir partner to use AI to streamline USV manufacturing, operations
“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
Navy’s 4th Fleet to start operation focused on unmanned systems countering illicit trafficking
“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.
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Speed, AI, and the platform that makes it operational
These are the five root causes that account for most of the delay in cognitive operations staffing.
Textron unveils new family of USVs dubbed Tsunami
“We look out across the market and evaluate our customers' emerging needs,” David Phillips, a company executive, told reporters. "We’ve been hearing an increased expression of interest in a small, rapidly deployable unmanned surface vehicle that can support a variety of missions beyond mine countermeasures.”
In expansion, Austal USA undergoes ‘unique evolution’ beyond a two-trick shipbuilder
The Alabama-based Navy shipbuilder has spent its first 20 years focused on two major ship programs. That's rapidly, and loudly, changing.
Mullen, former Joint Chiefs chairman, to lead board for unmanned tech firm Saildrone
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.
Navy’s progress towards unmanned operations: 5 Stories from 2022
The US Navy laid out its unmanned strategy at the start of the year, and these stories show some strides the service has taken.