REGENT's Squire seaglider takes part in Silent Swarm exercise. During the exercise, the autonomous Squire Seaglider carried payloads designed for electronic attack, electronic protection and electronic warfare support. Its role was intended to demonstrate both the platform's versatility and its ability to operate alongside other military assets in realistic combat scenarios. Over the course of the two-week Silent Swarm exercise, Squire joined a range of uncrewed systems operating across land, air and maritime domains. Participants were exposed to a variety of electromagnetic threats and countermeasures, including radar, communications, navigation, infrared and directed-energy systems, to assess how they would perform in contested environments. "Silent Swarm gave us the chance to show key defence stakeholders exactly what our autonomous Seaglider drone, Squire, can do in an operationally relevant setting," said Billy Thalheimer, co-founder and CEO of REGENT. "Our team has worked relentlessly to get us here, and this demonstration proves Squire is ready to deliver the capability our warfighters urgently need." Capabilities of the REGENT Squire autonomous drone. REGENT is positioning Squire, which remains under development, as a long-range, low-signature platform capable of operating at speeds of up to 70 knots (130km/h) in contested maritime environments. The company launched a dedicated defence division in July 2025 to market the vehicle to military and civil defence operators. REGENT says the Squire USA-V (Unmanned Surface and Aerial Vehicle) can carry payloads of up to 23kg (50lb) and support missions including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), frontline logistics, search and rescue, and anti-submarine warfare. Squire is a wing-in-ground vehicle, also known as a ground-effect vehicle, which exploits an aerodynamic phenomenon that improves efficiency when flying at extremely low altitude over water. Operating within roughly a wingspan of the surface and below the radar horizon, the platform is designed to combine high speed with a relatively low radar signature. Those characteristics are a key part of its military appeal. REGENT believes the combination of low observability and maritime mobility could make Squire a useful platform for ISR missions, logistics support and other operations in contested environments. REGENT is also using its proprietary flight-control software to develop fully autonomous capabilities for the platform. The Squire demonstrator is approximately one-quarter the size of the larger Viceroy Seaglider and is designed to operate over distances of up to 100 nautical miles (185km). However, Squire is only part of the company's wider defence ambition. REGENT is also developing a militarised version of the Viceroy, replacing the all-electric propulsion system with a hybrid configuration that extends range to around 1,400 nautical miles (2,592km). The company believes that additional range, combined with low-signature operations and autonomous capability, could make the platform suitable for a variety of military and security missions. As REGENT sees it, Squire is intended to demonstrate more than just a new vehicle concept. "Squire addresses a critical national security gap in the maritime domain, delivering a high-speed, long-range, low-signal platform that is highly versatile across mission types and interoperable with existing and emerging defence technologies," the company said. REGENT continues to develop its military division. Squire's participation in Silent Swarm builds on a period of rapid momentum for REGENT Defence. In April 2026, REGENT's Squire became the first purpose-built military wing-in-ground vehicle to fly in the United States. It has subsequently participated in other live rescue and logistics demonstrations with the US Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, including a dockside litter boarding, a beach extraction, and an open-water life raft rescue, validating Seaglider vessels for MEDEVAC and CASEVAC missions. REGENT already holds a $15 million contract with the US Marine Corps for Seaglider development and maintains formalised development relationships with US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) as well as the US Coast Guard Research and Development Centre. Additionally, the company has also forged defence agreements with allies across four continents, which the company says, "reflects the growing global demand for a maritime platform that combines speed, range, and low-signal operation at a cost no existing solution can match." A booming orderbook for Seaglider variants. To date, REGENT has secured global commercial orders for its Seagliders valued at more than $10 billion from leading airline and ferry operators around the world, as well as the $15 million worth of contracts with the US Marine Corps. REGENT has raised more than $100 million from investors, including 8090 Industries, Founders Fund, Japan Airlines, and Lockheed Martin.

America's only wing-in-ground effect drone does 13 days of military drills for the first time. American defense contractor Regent announced that its Squire wing-in-ground effect drone took part in a long military exercise. Published: 18 Aug 2026, 12:10 UTC - By: Photo: Regent In the not-so-distant future, a new kind of maritime vessel is likely to be integrated in the operations of the American and allied military. It's called the Squire, a wing-in-ground effect (WIG) craft that can both ride the waves and fly in very close proximity to them. And that moment is fast approaching, now that the design has survived a lengthy defense event in which it was an active participant. The Squire is the work of an American company called Regent, a crew that started its journey into this world by trying to come up with a new kind of island hopper and means of transport for coastal operations. Its original design, the Viceroy Seaglider meant for use by civilians, proved its worth so quickly that it didn't take long for several military variants to be imagined. The Squire is the most advanced of them all, having already become the first-ever defense-specific WIG craft to fly in the United States (and very likely the world). It happened back in April, when the design managed to lift itself above the waves for the first time. This week, Regent revealed that the Squire, which is now officially designated as an Unmanned Surface and Aerial Vehicle (USA-V), was an active participant in the Silent Swarm defense event, an annual gathering of Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Navy reps that seek to see small, multi-domain uncrewed systems doing their thing. Photo: Regent Silent Swarm took place back in mid-July in the Michigan Northern Lower Peninsula and at the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center, and had the Squire perform multiple missions as it tried to prove its ability to employ and defend against electromagnetic spectrum capabilities. The exact specifics of each mission were not disclosed, but Regent said the Squire was fitted with various payloads for use in electronic attack, electronic protection, and electronic warfare. The trials and tribulations lasted for a total of 13 days, and by the looks of it, the defense contractor is pretty satisfied with the results. Just like its larger, Viceroy sibling, the drone starts its mission in the water, but as it speeds up, it can rise on hydrofoils. When the proper conditions are met, it takes flight and becomes airborne, tapping into its maximum capabilities. In the collection of upcoming military Seaglider derivatives, the Squire is the smallest. It has been designed to carry up to 50 pounds (23 kg) of cargo at speeds of up to 81 mph (130 kph) when in flight mode, or half that when operating on hydrofoils. Photo: Regent Designed to fly within a wingspan of the surface of the water, the Squire can be invisible to enemy radar and can sneak in behind enemy lines to distances of up to 115 miles (185 km) from its departure point on a single charge of its batteries. The craft has been designed to be used by the military in a variety of roles, including intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), logistics, search and rescue, and anti-submarine warfare. It's supposed to fill a critical national security gap in the maritime domain, as per its maker, a high-speed, long-range, low-signal platform that doesn't need an onboard crew. It's not clear at this point how much longer the development of the Squire will continue, and when Autoevolution is to expect to see it deployed operationally in the hands of the military. Autoevolution do know that the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) in particular is very excited by it, and is backing the project through a $15 million contract. Regent says that it has already signed some sort of agreement with allies across four continents but does not name them. And this should be just the beginning, because, as said, there are more military variants in the pipeline. Photo: Regent One of them is a replica of the civilian Viceroy, using the same electric powertrain that could give it a top speed of 184 mph (296 kph). This version would be capable of transporting up to 12 fully armed Marines to distances of 184 miles. That's not particularly far, so Regent once said it is also considering a hybrid military Viceroy, which would be capable of reaching distances of up to 1,600 miles (2,600 km) while carrying up to 3,500 pounds (1,588 kg) of cargo. Autoevolution has no info at the moment on whether these two military versions are still being considered, but the civilian Viceroy is in a pretty advanced stage of development, with the start of operations planned for as soon as 2027. Regent is rushing to meet what can only be described as a huge demand, with more than $10 billion in orders having already been received from airline and ferry operators around the world. On top of that, the project attracted serious investments from Japan Airlines and Lockheed Martin, among others, kind of proving that the world needed a Seaglider, even if it didn't know it. Liked the article? Follow Autoevolution to see more articles from autoevolution in your Google feeds.