🆕 52m Saildrone Spectre USV unveiled
🎯 Saildrone, US-based USV developer for both civil and navy, has recently announced its newest platform, Spectre, a 52 meters long vehicle, weighing 250 tonnes, capable of up to 30 knots and holding American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) Approval in Principle (AIP) for Spectre, which complies with High Speed Naval Craft certification.
🎤 “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 leverages wind, solar, and diesel propulsion. It runs twin shaftlines with dual electric and diesel propulsion, enabling near-silent electric propulsion up to 12 knots, before kicking in 5,000 horsepower of Caterpillar Inc. diesel engines to propel the vessel up to 27 knots with full fuel and a 25-ton payload. Cruising at 25 knots with a 25-ton payload, Spectre has a range of 3,280 nautical miles in flat water and 2,790 nm range in Sea State 4.
The concealed payload deck provides room for containerized payloads, ranging from dual 40-foot containers, up to five 20-foot containers, or a mixture of configurations in between. Spectre’s maximum payload capacity is over 70 tonnes.
Spectre has two variants depending on customer requirements:
🔹 Spectre Silent Endurance features the Saildrone Wing, optimized for ASW and other acoustically sensitive mission sets.
🔹 Spectre Stealth Strike, leveraging a wingless configuration, designed to operate at higher sprint speeds and low-profile stealth operations.
Spectre performance is not just theoretical; it has been verified and tested at FORCE Technology tow tank in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Saildrone and Lockheed Martin will integrate numerous payloads as part of a $50 million strategic partnership signed in October 2025. These include the Mk70 VLS launcher, active and passive ASW arrays such as the TB29 thin-linned towed array, and electronic warfare systems.
Saildrone is also working with Thales to integrate the Combined Active Passive Towed Array Sonar-4 (CAPTAS) Variable Depth Sonar on Spectre.
Fincantieri Marine Group (US subsidiary of FINCANTIERI) will build the aluminum hull form for both variants of Saildrone Spectre at its Wisconsin system of shipyards, which has the capacity to build five Spectre vessels per year.
The 43-meter (140-foot) composite Saildrone Wing will be manufactured by American Magic Services (AMS) at the American Magic High Performance Center in Pensacola, Florida.
Construction of USV will begin shortly, with the first vessel undergoing sea trials in early 2027.
📃📷 Source: Saildrone
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Great demo, and amazing optimization on only a GTX 1660 super