Lockheed Martin Invests $50M in Saildrone to Advance USV Capabilities for US Navy

Saildrone Founder and CEO Richard Jenkins shares news on Lockheed Martin's recent investment in Saildrone:

Today, I am delighted to announce a $50 million investment from Lockheed Martin in Saildrone, Inc. This commercial relationship marries the world’s most sophisticated and trusted defense technology with the world’s most capable and operationally proven USV technology. Together, we will rapidly equip Saildrone USVs with all-domain defense technology for lethal military applications.

I wanted to share the journey that brought us here and how Saildrone’s unique solutions have evolved through our experiences.

The first Saildrone USV sailed from San Francisco to Hawaii in 2013, covering 2,200 nautical miles in just 33 days. Utilizing one of the world’s oldest technologies, sail power, but in a modern incarnation, we had proven we were able to provide near infinite endurance, to facilitate access to any part of our unfrozen oceans. The numerous applications for such a capability were immediately obvious to me, with defense and security applications at the top of the list.

The oceans are vast and largely unmonitored. Nefarious actors are everywhere, navigating unseen and unchallenged. An unmanned solution was the obvious solution, providing a persistent presence while keeping humans out of harm’s