Overview
- Saildrone, which unveiled Spectre Monday at the Sea-Air-Space expo, introduced a 52-meter, about 250-ton uncrewed ship built for anti-submarine warfare, surveillance, and strike missions.
- The platform comes in two versions that share a dual electric‑diesel setup, with near‑silent electric drive up to 12 knots and diesel power for sprints reported up to 27–30 knots.
- Container bays sized for standard 20‑ and 40‑foot boxes allow quick mission swaps, including Lockheed Martin’s Mk70 vertical launch system and TB‑29 towed arrays, plus Thales’ CAPTAS‑4 variable‑depth sonar.
- Fincantieri’s Wisconsin yards are set to begin builds soon with capacity for about five hulls per year, with first sea trials planned for early 2027 and an estimated unit cost near $40 million.
- Saildrone cites tow‑tank testing in Copenhagen and an American Bureau of Shipping Approval in Principle as risk reducers as it submits Spectre to the Navy’s new Medium USV marketplace, a procurement path for ready‑to‑produce unmanned ships.