MILAN — Saildrone, the U.S. manufacturer of unmanned surface vessels (USVs), is significantly expanding its European industrial footprint with new production initiatives in the Netherlands, Norway, and Poland, the company announced today.
The news arrives on the eve of DALO Industry Days, Scandinavia’s premier defense exhibition in Denmark, where Saildrone established its European Union headquarters earlier this year.
The company, whose platforms have supported U.S. military operations in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific tracking suspected narcotics traffickers, is launching three distinct construction projects. The effort is designed to accelerate the build and deployment of USVs across European theaters.
“The first 52-meter Saildrone Spectre will be built at Van Der Valk Shipyard in the Netherlands, and the next generation of the Saildrone Surveyor will be produced at Umoe Mandal in Norway,” founder and CEO Richard Jenkins stated in a press release.
The third agreement partners with New Zealand-headquartered Southern Spars to manufacture the Surveyor’s rigid wing sails — the tall, vertical structures that provide wind-powered propulsion — in Poland.
Saildrone’s portfolio spans four USV classes, including the 20-meter Surveyor and its largest, fastest platform to date, the 52-meter Spectre. Unveiled in April, the 250-ton Spectre is being developed in partnership with Lockheed Martin and Fincantieri Marine Group. It is designed to address a critical anti-submarine warfare capability gap, offering high-speed transit up to 30 knots and the capacity for kinetic strikes. Potential payloads include two Lockheed Martin MK-70 Payload Delivery Systems.
During the summer of 2026, the Danish Armed Forces conducted a multi-month operational trial deploying four Saildrone Voyager USVs throughout Danish territorial waters to enhance maritime surveillance and intelligence collection in Northern Europe.
Saildrone reports the vessels achieved 92 percent fleet uptime over the six-month deployment despite harsh weather and sea states, detecting more than 170,000 unique surface contacts.
A company spokesperson told Breaking Defense that while Saildrone cannot comment on specific pending European contracts, it is “building to meet demand.” The press release characterizes the three announced initiatives as separate build contracts with the respective partner nations.
