Saronic Technologies has secured a U.S. Navy production contract for its 180-foot Marauder autonomous surface vessel. This comes after a successful evaluation at sea, where the vessel completed over 140 scenarios during eight continuous days of testing.
The contract is part of the Navy's Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) Marketplace initiative. This effort aims to integrate commercially advanced autonomous vessels into the Navy fleet more quickly than traditional shipbuilding programs allow.
Back in May, the Navy announced seven companies selected for at-sea demonstrations in the MUSV Marketplace, including Saronic, Sea Machines, Leidos, Galliano Marine Services, PacMar Technologies, Birdon, and Huntington Ingalls Industries. Those that passed testing were eligible for follow-up production contracts.
Saronic reported that the Marauder finished all 140 test scenarios without any issues during the rigorous eight-day operation. The trials involved autonomous tracking and navigating around other vessels, as well as passive perception tests where the Marauder had to detect and follow traffic without using active radar.
The same vessel was used throughout the evaluation, and the tests were conducted consecutively, rather than on a specially designed test platform.
“Marauder went from initial design to being on the water in less than a year, and this evaluation proved that it can handle the Navy’s most demanding tests,” said Dino Mavrookas, co-founder and CEO of Saronic.
Details about the value of the production contract or the number of Marauder vessels covered were not shared by Saronic.
The company describes the Marauder as a long-range autonomous vessel capable of carrying up to 150 metric tons of modular payload. It boasts a range of up to 5,400 nautical miles and a top speed of more than 25 knots, according to Saronic’s specifications.
This production contract adds to Saronic's growing portfolio, which already includes a production agreement for its smaller 24-foot Corsair autonomous surface vessel.
Corsair has already moved beyond testing. In July, three of these vessels participated in strikes against Iranian naval facilities in Bandar Abbas, marking what U.S. Central Command referred to as the first combat use of American sea drones. This action followed an incident in June where a Navy-operated Corsair rescued two U.S. Army aviators after their Apache helicopter crashed off the coast of Oman.
Saronic is also expanding into larger conventional Navy shipbuilding. Earlier this month, the Navy chose Saronic along with Conrad Shipyard and Master Boat Builders for prototype agreements to build LCU 1700 landing craft. The total initial construction obligation for these three contracts is about $280.5 million, according to the Navy.
Saronic plans to construct its landing craft at Port Alpha, a large new shipyard being developed in Brownsville, Texas. The company selected Brownsville earlier this year for this more than $3 billion project, which is set to begin operations in 2028 and will eventually support the construction of both crewed and autonomous vessels.
The Marauder contract gives Saronic a solid position in the Navy's autonomous surface fleet as the service aims to transition unmanned vessels from experimental statuses to operational roles.