Overview
- Regent’s Squire program, which flew Monday, advanced from validation to live testing after a scale demonstrator autonomously shifted from floating to hydrofoiling to ground-effect flight.
- Company video of the run showed the craft reaching up to 40 knots as its hydrofoils retracted and it lifted to skim just above the water on a cushion of air.
- Regent pitches Squire for missions like intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, tailored resupply, combat search and rescue, and anti-submarine support.
- The company lists targets for a full-size system of roughly 70–80 knots, about 100 nautical miles of range, and a 50-pound payload, though those figures remain projections.
- The Marine Corps Warfighting Lab plans to evaluate Squire at Silent Swarm 26 in July before a full-size test later this summer, following Coast Guard test clearance last year and despite past WIG setbacks such as DARPA’s Liberty Lifter cancellation.