Austal USA has announced a new partnership with Saildrone Inc., under which the Mobile shipyard will start building autonomous sail-powered survey vessels as soon as this fall.
Saildrone has developed a variety of autonomous research vessels including the Saildrone Surveyor, a low-profile vessel about 70 feet long with a tall sail-shaped mast. The mast provides most of the craft’s propulsion, while solar panels on the top of the hull collect energy to run a variety of instruments. These can be tailored for multiple missions including high-resolution mapping of the globe’s seafloors, most of which remain uncharted.
Austal USA said that its “advance manufacturing capabilities” will allow a rapid ramp-up of production for the Saildrone Surveyor, which will be manufactured exclusively in Mobile.
“We are extremely pleased to enter into this agreement with Saildrone. It is a great fit as both of us are leaders in our respective markets and we both strive to provide leading edge solutions to the U.S. Navy,” said Austal USA President Rusty Murdaugh. “With our lean manufacturing techniques and serial production capabilities, Austal USA will provide large scale fabrication of these vehicles and with our partner Saildrone rapidly get the capability to the Fleet.”
Austal USA has announced a partnership with Saildrone, under which it will build sail-powered autonomous vessels.Courtesy Austal USA/Saildrone
Over the last two years, Austal has rapidly diversified from aluminum shipbuilding into steel ship production, and it has announced several steel contracts. Part of the significance of the Saildrone partnership is that it will help keep Austal’s aluminum line busy after it finishes building the few Littoral Combat Ships remaining on order.
Austal said it expects to begin manufacturing its first Saildrone Surveyor in October for the U.S. Navy.
One of the aluminum Expeditionary Fast Transports that Austal is building for the Navy has been set aside for development as an autonomous ship. Austal said Tuesday that the Saildrone deal bolsters Mobile’s standing as a center of autonomous ship construction.
“Saildrone is the clear world leader in small uncrewed systems, with a track record of almost one million ocean miles under our belt on our 100-strong fleet,” said Richard Jenkins, Saildrone Founder and CEO. “Austal is leading the way in the large uncrewed sector, pioneering autonomy and reliability of much larger systems capable of carrying much heavier payloads. We see these two technologies as extremely complementary. Building these two extremes of size in the same facility, and leveraging Austal’s advanced manufacturing capabilities, will dramatically accelerate our ability to get Saildrones into the hands of our customers.”
Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.
Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your California Privacy Rights (User Agreement updated 1/1/21. Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement updated 7/1/2022).
© 2022 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us). The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local.
Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site.