Lockheed Martin has invested US$50 million for the integration of maritime defence capability onto unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) built by California-based Saildrone.
Together, the companies will pair Saildrone’s proven USV platforms with Lockheed Martin’s defence technology. The craft will eventually be supplied to the US Navy.
Lockheed Martin is integrating its defence payloads to transform the Saildrone USVs into multi-mission platforms capable of fleet defence, undersea surveillance, reconnaissance, and strike.
The partnership will begin work immediately, integrating the Lockheed Martin's joint air-to-ground missile quad launcher onto a Saildrone USV and expanding to additional Lockheed Martin payloads fitted across multiple platforms.
Lockheed Martin said the open-architecture approach and secure command-and-control framework will ensure rapid, reliable integration while preserving security and interoperability.
Lockheed Martin and Saildrone plan to deliver proof-of-concept integrations and live fire demonstrations within this year. Larger Saildrone USVs are already in development to support significantly larger payloads and capabilities to include Lockheed Martin’s Mark 70 vertical launch system and thin line towed arrays.