US Navy Awards $10 Million to Saildrone for Atlantic Seabed Mapping with USVs
- Published
- Source
- InterestingEngineering.com
The US Navy has awarded a $10 million contract to Saildrone to utilize autonomous vessels for mapping the Atlantic Ocean floor. This initiative, assigned by the Naval Oceanographic Office, is set to commence in 2026 and will continue through most of 2027, enhancing military knowledge of critical underwater terrain.
This project is significant as it aims to improve safe navigation and support submarine missions, anti-submarine warfare, and critical infrastructure protection. Currently, only 28.7 percent of the world's oceans have been mapped to modern standards, leaving substantial knowledge gaps that can pose operational risks for naval operations.
Looking ahead, the deployment of Saildrone's Surveyor unmanned surface vessels will not only provide high-resolution bathymetric data but also measure ocean currents, aiding search-and-recovery operations. No further timeline was disclosed at the time of publication.
Original report
US to deploy 2,877-mile-range vessels to map Atlantic seabed for submarine navigation
InterestingEngineering.com · Atharva GosaviThis briefing is an independently written summary based on publicly available reporting and is provided for industry information and news discovery. The original report and source publication are credited and linked where applicable. RobotToday does not claim ownership of third-party source material.
Rights concerns? Contact [email protected] with the relevant URL and details. We will review the matter and take appropriate action where warranted.
More related news
- 1
- 2
- 3
-
4
ROBOTTODAY Weekly October 19 – 23, 2026 RobotToday · 1 week ago
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
-
10
RobotToday Weekly September 21 – 25, 2026 RobotToday · 1 month ago
- 11
- 12
Related Suppliers
Saildrone
United States
Alameda, California maritime autonomy company founded 2009; builds Surveyor, Voyager, and Spectre USVs with over 2.5 million nautical miles logged.
Seafloor Systems, Inc.
United States
California hydrographic survey firm founded 1999 that builds portable survey USVs (HyDrone, TriDrone, Trident, EchoBoat, HydroCat-550) and AutoNav.
SeaRobotics Corp.
United States
US marine robotics company founded 1999, manufacturing autonomous surface vehicles and ROVs for hydrographic survey, defense, and ocean industries.
Bedrock Ocean Exploration, PBC
United States
Richmond, CA public benefit corp. that builds and operates its own 300 m-rated survey AUVs and delivers seabed data via its Mosaic cloud platform.
Skarv Technologies AS
Norway
Trondheim maker of hovering CORAX 600 and CORAX Endurance AUVs with 4K optics and onboard classification for MCM, seabed mapping and aquaculture.
Gabler Group
Germany
German submarine-systems maker since 1962 that built the Ranger, a torpedo-tube-launched autonomous surface vessel, with partner FLANQ.
Kollmorgen
United States
US motion control company founded 1916, making servo motors, drives, and AGV control systems for industrial robotics. Now a Regal Rexnord brand.
Spexi Geospatial
Canada
Canadian drone imagery platform operating a global crowdsourced pilot network (LayerDrone) to deliver sub-3cm resolution aerial data for spatial AI.
Agrowing
Israel
Israeli developer of high-resolution multispectral drone sensors and AI analytics for precision agriculture
Vatn Systems
United States
Vatn Systems builds modular autonomous underwater vehicles and GPS-denied navigation systems for naval defense.
Oshen
United Kingdom
Plymouth, UK firm founded 2022 building 1 m wind-and-solar C-Star sailing drones; C-Stars sent data from inside Category 5 Hurricane Humberto.
Sirehna
France
Naval Group subsidiary specializing in marine hydrodynamics, dynamic positioning systems, and unmanned surface vessels.
Robotics needs a service framework.
RSF defines a common language for robot service capability, lifecycle operations, certification pathways, and service-provider networks.
Join the RobotToday community on LinkedIn
Daily robotics news, in-depth analysis, conference highlights, and discussions with professionals worldwide.
