Saildrone inks agreement with Norwegian shipbuilder Umoe Mandal to produce USVs. The agreement is the latest in a series of moves by Saildrone to expand into Europe. PARIS - Saildrone and Norwegian shipbuilding company Umoe Mandal have signed an agreement to produce unmanned surface vessels, with some parts being built in Norway, company executives said. Under the agreement, signed Wednesday at the Euronaval defense show here, the Norwegian company will build the vessel for Saildrone's 20-meter-long Surveyor USV, and the US-based manufacturer will provide the autonomy suite as well as electronics and navigation systems. "The Saildrone Surveyor will provide persistent maritime domain awareness in strategically important waters, including the Baltic and North Seas, as well as Arctic waters, while giving customers sovereign control over their operations and data," Robert Kleist, Saildrone's European managing director, told reporters here. The representative added that Umoe Mandal was selected for its expertise in composite structures, such as glass or carbon fiber. Among other things, the Norwegian company supplies the mast for the British Type-26 frigates. The agreement is the latest in a series of moves by Saildrone to expand into Europe. Over the summer, the company opened a new headquarters in Copenhagen and, in August, signed an agreement with Polish company Southern Spars to produce Surveyor's wings in Poland. Umoe Mandall CEO Tom Fidgeland told reporters that his company has already begun building a new manufacturing site near its main plant, dedicated to producing the USVs. "This is to answer the demand we know will come in the future. We are doing this without having concrete orders [yet] in place, but we are confident this will be the case based on future work... We can easily reach two vessels a month, but that can be expanded more than that for sure," Fidgeland said. Kleist cited Northern European countries, including Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Norway, as anticipated interested parties for Saildrone USVs, which could be facilitated through the Nordic Defence Cooperation (NORDEFCO) framework agreement. The NORDEFCO agreement allows Nordic nations - Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland - to rapidly procure different types of systems, including USVs. It follows a sort of surveillance-as-a-service model: instead of buying physical USVs, member countries can contract Saildrone to deliver maritime intelligence. In October, the Swedish Armed Forces became the first country to execute a national deployment under the NORDEFCO framework, launching a year-long maritime surveillance mission in the Baltic Sea using 4 four Saildrone-made Voyager USVs. In this context, Saildrone operates the vessels, which sail under the Swedish flag, and the Swedish Navy chooses the mission parameters and receives a continuous stream of data. Kleist said that if other countries opted to adopt this model, it could benefit the regional allies, as they would essentially be looking at the same information, for instance, surveillance of Baltic Sea activities, and could potentially share intelligence among nations as well. The Baltic Sea is a key maritime area for Europe, as it connects many shipping routes and critical underwater infrastructure. Some countries have vocalized increased concerns over the protection of such infrastructure, with the rise of hybrid warfare and sabotage incidents seen in Europe in recent months. In addition, Russia has direct access to the Baltic Sea through several entry points: Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad Oblast in the east, as well as through the Kaliningrad exclave - situated between Poland and Lithuania. When asked whether the companies were worried about Russian forces seizing one of the USVs, Fidgeland said they must consider it, but are not concerned it would happen. "We have radars, we have cameras... We can see them [Russians] miles away. If they have bad intentions, we can take nice photographs of them," Fidgeland told Breaking Defense.

Sweden pays Saildrone for Baltic Sea data, not the boats collecting it. DroneXL may earn a commission when you buy through links on its site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. A Saildrone Voyager USV departs Nynäshamn, Sweden, for the Baltic Sea. Photo credit: Saildrone American sea-drone maker Saildrone has started a year-long mission for the Swedish Armed Forces, patrolling Sweden's territorial waters and exclusive economic zone in the Baltic Sea with four wind-powered Voyager uncrewed surface vessels (USVs). Sweden's Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) signed the framework agreement, the first national deployment under the Nordic Defence Cooperation (NORDEFCO) framework. Defence Minister Pål Jonson saw one of the boats at an FMV media day in Nynäshamn, south of Stockholm, on October 22. In January, Jonson announced Sweden's $440 million push into unmanned military systems, with sea surveillance on the list. Four Voyagers now sail for the Swedish Navy, and FMV says Sweden did not buy any of them. Sweden pays Saildrone for surveillance data instead of boats. Sweden is paying for what the Voyagers see. Saildrone deploys and operates four of them for 360 days each, 1,440 contracted vehicle-days, and the Swedish Navy receives their maritime surveillance data around the clock. Saildrone's own staff monitor the boats at all times. FMV project manager Johan Wahren said Sweden is "purchasing a persistent maritime surveillance service" in Saildrone's announcement of the mission. In FMV's own release, published in Swedish, he calls this service model a concept FMV sees spreading internationally. The Navy hands Saildrone its tasks, and the contract lets Sweden add more sea drones to the service. The US Navy already buys Voyager time this way. In August, Saildrone announced a $16.3 million Navy task order to keep its Voyager fleet operating in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific for US Naval Forces Southern Command and the Fourth Fleet, where Saildrone has run the boats since 2023. Its larger Surveyor also fired two JAGM missiles at the US Navy's RIMPAC exercise this summer. Sweden's Minister for Defence Pål Jonson (left) and Saildrone European Managing Director Robert Kleist at FMV's media day in Nynäshamn on October 22, 2026. Photo credit: Saildrone Denmark's six-month Saildrone mission detected 170,000 vessels. Saildrone's Baltic track record comes from a six-month mission for the Royal Danish Navy, where four Voyagers held 92% fleet uptime, sailed more than 20,000 nautical miles and detected over 170,000 unique vessels, according to Saildrone. Sweden's contract uses the same four-boat fleet size. NORDEFCO links Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway, and has done so since 2009. FMV says the agreement lets other Nordic nations sign up on their own terms, and it drafted an implementing arrangement to make that easier. Saildrone says more national deployments will follow. Robert Kleist, Saildrone's European managing director, said "Sweden is investing in year-round maritime awareness as an operational capability." The company opened its European headquarters in Copenhagen this year, backed by a 2025 financing round led by the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO), and now registers Voyagers under the Danish flag. That is why the Swedish Navy's boats carry a Danish flag on the sail. Voyager SD-2032 during the four-boat departure from Denmark, Saildrone's European base. Photo credit: Saildrone Saildrone Voyagers check Baltic ships against their own AIS signals. Detecting ships is only part of the job. Wahren says in FMV's release that the Voyagers also check that a vessel really is what its AIS transponder says it is. Another task is confirming the position of ships that may have broadcast a false one. Each Voyager is a 33-foot (10-meter) sailboat carrying camera and radar, driven mainly by wind. Solar panels power the electronics, and a small engine with a fuel tank backs up the sail. The boats move between positions on their own within the mission Saildrone is given. The work ties into NATO. FMV says the Swedish boats contribute to Task Force X Baltic, a NATO Allied Command Transformation project to speed up unmanned sea surveillance. It grew out of Operation Baltic Sentry, launched after subsea cable breaks in 2024 and 2025. In February, Sweden and seven other allies agreed to cooperate on acquiring new maritime technology for Baltic security. In July, an IISS report on Russian drone incursions described shadow-fleet vessels sailing close to European coastlines with their AIS transponders switched off. Saildrone sells the same boat at home, too: Voyagers were scheduled to watch vessel traffic on the Great Lakes for the US Coast Guard from May through October. Voyager SD-2015 with a support boat alongside during FMV's October 22 media day. Photo credit: FMV DroneXL's take. Sweden is buying sea drones the way they should be bought. The Navy pays for a picture of the Baltic, and as I read the service model, a Voyager that breaks its wing sail in a January storm is Saildrone's problem to fix. Denmark's 92% fleet uptime is the figure Sweden should hold Saildrone to, because uptime is what it is paying for. The model suits the AIS work too. A Voyager cruises at about 5 knots, so it won't chase a tanker, but it can sit off a shipping lane for months and report ships whose transponders don't match what the camera sees, without tying up a crewed patrol vessel. Finland and Norway can now sign on through the same NORDEFCO arrangement, and I think they should. Sources: Saildrone, Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV), NATO DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo. Read its editorial standards. Editor-in-Chief Haye Kesteloo is the Editor in Chief and Founder of DroneXL.co, where he covers all drone-related news, DJI rumors and writes drone reviews, and of EVXL.co, for all electric vehicle news. Haye can be reached at haye @ dronexl.co or @hayekesteloo. Also on LinkedIn, Muck Rack, Instagram and YouTube. DroneXL reports under its editorial standards. Spotted an error? Read the corrections policy. How DroneXL uses automated tools.