Saildrone Introduces High-Endurance Anti-Submarine and Strike USV Maritime Activity Reports, Inc. April 20, 2026 Source: Saildrone Saildrone has announced its newest platform, Spectre. At 52 meters (170 feet) long, weighing 250 tonnes, and capable of up to 30 knots, Spectre is a high-endurance USV designed to deliver multi-mission effects above and below the surface. Spectre’s design is engineered from the keel up for long-range, quiet, persistent operations. Spectre is Saildrone’s largest, fastest, and most capable platform to date. The US Navy is facing unprecedented challenges in maintaining maritime superiority across numerous regional hotspots simultaneously, says the company. As global conflicts escalate, the service must contend with adversaries increasingly targeting strategically crucial waterways and critical undersea infrastructure. Furthermore, protecting these vast waters requires a continuous presence, which episodic patrols by traditional manned warships and capital assets cannot sustain. Long-range, autonomous platforms provide the enduring presence necessary to safeguard these theaters and can be equipped with the mission-oriented payload effects that commanders require to respond to threats. USVs shoulder the burden of maintaining persistent maritime presence, allowing navies to deploy their most valuable crewed assets exclusively for the complex missions only they can perform. “Spectre is the result of 25 years of continually pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. A unique design evolved through the hard lessons of operational experience in the real world,” said Richard Jenkins, Saildrone’s founder and CEO. “Spectre is not a craft hurriedly readied to meet a particular RFP, but diligently evolved over multiple years to meet the operational requirements of our customers and fill critical capability gaps in the ASW domain.” Ficantieri Marinette Marine will build the aluminum hull form for both variants of Saildrone Spectre at its Wisconsin syste