Saildrone fires two JAGMs from its wind-powered Surveyor

Richard Jenkins has taken Saildrone's wind-powered ocean robot into a new phase: launching guided missiles as part of a US Navy carrier strike group exercise.

A Surveyor-class autonomous surface vessel launched two Joint-Air-to-Ground Missiles near Hawaii during RIMPAC 2026, according to an August 20th announcement from Lockheed Martin. The vessel used the Navy's Adjunct Remote Engagement System, or ARES, and Lockheed Martin's JAGM Dual Launcher while coordinating with the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group. Tom's Hardware reported on the demonstration on August 29th.

The test is a sharp turn for technology Jenkins developed to keep autonomous vessels at sea for long stretches without crews or fuel-hungry propulsion. He began working on the underlying wing while studying mechanical engineering at Imperial College London. After roughly a decade of development, his Greenbird land yacht reached 126.2 mph in 2009, setting a wind-powered land-speed record. Jenkins later adapted its self-trimming wing and tail system for an ocean-going robot and founded Saildrone in 2012.

Saildrone's early work centered on scientific data, weather observations and ocean mapping. Its first autonomous ocean crossing followed in 2013. The Alameda, California-based manufacturer subsequently added radar, acoustic sensors and maritime surveillance missions before moving deeper into defense.

A commercial vessel enters the kill chain

The RIMPAC demonstration tested whether a commercially developed autonomous vessel could function as a connected weapons node rather than a standalone sensor platform. Lockheed Martin said the Surveyor acted on targeting data for a surrogate high-speed surface craft through ARES, the US Navy's Adjunct Remote Engagement System. ARES is a remotely operated combat system that provided fire-control and command-and-control capabilities during the demonstration.

JAGM uses semi-active laser and millimeter-wave radar guidance. Those independent guidance modes are designed to support operations in poor visibility and changing weather, conditions that complicate maritime targeting.

The disclosed result was primarily an integration milestone. Lockheed Martin reported that two rounds were launched, without publishing accuracy, firing range or target-effects results. The distinction matters because releasing a missile from an autonomous vessel establishes that the launcher, communications and fire-control systems can work together. It does not establish how the complete system would perform against a maneuvering target under contested communications or electronic attack.

Saildrone and Lockheed Martin also used the Surveyor for passive electronic warfare. The vessel coordinated with an MH-60S helicopter to detect, classify and identify a surrogate threat radar, according to Lockheed Martin. Sensor type, detection range and network details were not included in the announcement.

Even within those limits, the exercise moved Saildrone into a different operational category. A vessel built around endurance and persistent sensing was connected to the systems of a carrier strike group and given a role in the engagement sequence. That makes the Surveyor potentially useful as a distributed sensor or launcher placed farther from crewed ships.

Lockheed Martin paid to accelerate the transition

The speed of the integration reflects a partnership backed by Lockheed Martin's balance sheet. On October 29th, 2025, Lockheed Martin announced a $50 million investment in Saildrone, with both sides targeting live-fire demonstrations in 2026. The partners said the RIMPAC project moved from concept to demonstration in six months.

That investment gave Lockheed Martin a commercial autonomous vessel on which to place its launchers, sensors and command systems. Saildrone gained a direct path into weapons integration and the Navy's operational architecture. The arrangement also lets both sides reuse systems that had already accumulated operational histories, rather than designing a new vessel and weapon together from the keel up.

The October partnership followed a decade spent improving Saildrone's reliability, autonomy and endurance. Saildrone's current company profile says its fleet has sailed 2.5 million nautical miles and accumulated 65,000 days at sea. Those figures are self-reported fleet totals, rather than measures of the armed Surveyor's performance.

Saildrone had already begun assembling the capital and personnel for a defense expansion. On April 7th, 2025, Jenkins appointed former US Navy Vice Admiral John Mustin as president, tasking him with growing Saildrone's defense and intelligence operations, according to Saildrone's announcement. Mustin previously led roughly 60,000 Navy Reserve personnel. On May 13th, Saildrone closed a $60 million financing led by Denmark's EIFO, with Lux Capital, Washington Harbor Partners, Crowley, Academy Securities and Pinegrove participating. That round was aimed at European maritime security deployments.

The larger launcher comes next

The Surveyor test is also a stepping stone for Saildrone's larger Spectre vessel. Saildrone and Lockheed Martin say they plan to integrate containerized systems including the Mk 70 launcher and a SURTASS towed array on Spectre. Those remain planned integrations; neither was demonstrated by the Surveyor at RIMPAC.

A larger launcher would expand the range of weapons an autonomous vessel could carry, while the towed array points toward anti-submarine surveillance. Together, those payloads show where Jenkins is taking the platform: from an endurance-focused data collector toward a modular vessel that can sense, communicate and carry weapons across several naval missions.

The commercial logic is equally direct. Autonomous maritime startups are competing for a Navy that wants more vessels without matching every hull with a full crew. Saildrone enters that contest with years of operations in scientific and surveillance missions, then adds weapons through a defense contractor already embedded in Navy programs.

The RIMPAC launch gives Jenkins a working demonstration of that strategy. Saildrone still has to convert an exercise result into repeatable deployment and procurement. For a founder whose core invention began as a way to move faster across a dry lake using only wind, firing missiles from the Pacific is a consequential proof that the same wing can carry a much larger business.