Sweden Selects Saildrone for Year-long Maritime Domain Awareness Mission in the Baltic Sea

Saildrone today announced a year-long mission with the Swedish Armed Forces to deliver persistent maritime domain awareness across Sweden’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zone in the Baltic Sea.

Under the agreement, Saildrone will deploy and operate four Voyager unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) for 360 days each, representing 1,440 contracted vehicle-days of continuous maritime security operations.

This deployment marks the first national deployment of Saildrone USVs under the Nordic Defence Cooperation (NORDEFCO) framework that enables participating Nordic nations to rapidly procure Saildrone maritime domain awareness services. Additional national deployments under the framework will follow.

The 12-month commitment highlights a decisive shift toward long-term operational capabilities, with the Swedish Armed Forces securing a full year of persistent maritime domain awareness to safeguard critical waters from the outset.

"This is fundamentally not about four unmanned vessels, but about access to sustained intelligence collection at sea. In other words, we are purchasing a persistent maritime surveillance service, and Saildrone provides the vessels that supply the Navy with data,” said Johan Wahren, project manager at Sweden's Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) in a FMV press release.

NORDEFCO is a cooperative organization that unites Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and other Northern European countries to streamline defense cooperation and field proven regional security solutions. 

The Saildrone Voyager fleet will continuously patrol Sweden’s territorial waters in the Baltic Sea, delivering real-time maritime intelligence directly to the Swedish Armed Forces. Operating as a managed service, Saildrone maintains, deploys, and tasks the USVs, enabling Sweden to maintain persistent maritime domain awareness without deploying additional crewed ships.

“This mission reflects Sweden’s commitment to securing the Baltic Sea and highlights Saildrone’s growing operational presence across Northern Europe,” said Robert Kleist, Saildrone’s European managing director. “Sweden is investing in year-round maritime awareness as an operational capability. The NORDEFCO framework gives Nordic nations a common mechanism for accessing that capability while allowing each country to define and operate its own mission.”

Saildrone delivers persistent maritime domain awareness for navies and law enforcement operating in the world’s harshest maritime environments. The company has supported defense and security missions in places ranging from the Baltic Sea and the High North to the Southern Ocean and the Middle East.

Saildrone recently registered four Saildrone Voyager USVs in Denmark to operate under the Danish national flag. The registration establishes a clear flag-state framework for Saildrone USVs operating internationally and supports the company operating alongside various European nations. Saildrone Europe will flag additional Saildrone USVs in the coming weeks.