Saildrone has signed a contract with the Swedish FMV to provide persistent maritime surveillance in the Baltic Sea via four of its Voyager uncrewed surface vessels (USVs).
The American maritime defence and intelligence firm, based in California and founded in 2012, has just struck the deal with Swedish Procurement agency Försvarets materielverk (FMV), the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration, on behalf of the Swedish Armed Forces.
Under the terms of the agreement the firm will provide four USVs for 12 months in what it describes as a year-long mission with the Swedish Armed Forces to deliver persistent maritime domain awareness across Sweden’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zone in the Baltic Sea.
The deal is on a surveillance-as-a-service model: the company retains the platforms, and the customer buys the data generated.
FMV project manager Johan Wahren said: “This is fundamentally not about four unmanned vessels, but about access to sustained intelligence collection at sea.
“In other words, we are purchasing a persistent maritime surveillance service, and Saildrone provides the vessels that supply the Navy with data.”
The deal represents the first national deployment of Saildrone USVs under the Nordic Defence Cooperation (NORDEFCO) framework, which supports defence cooperation across northern Europe. As per the company, additional national deployments are set to follow shortly.
Saildrone’s European MD Robert Kleist added: “This mission reflects Sweden’s commitment to securing the Baltic Sea and highlights Saildrone’s growing operational presence across northern Europe.
“Sweden is investing in year-round maritime awareness as an operational capability. The NORDEFCO framework gives Nordic nations a common mechanism for accessing that capability while allowing each country to define and operate its own mission.”
The firm said the new deal builds on a previous collaboration between Saildrone and the Royal Danish Navy, where over six months, four Voyager USVs achieved sailed more than 20,000 nautical miles, and detected over 170,000 vessels, while maintaining a 92% fleet availability.
- You can read more details on the Saildrone website and the FMV website
