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Saildrone aims to deliver game-changing maritime domain awareness through autonomous systems that go farther, last longer, and operate more affordably than traditional platforms. Now, in collaboration with Thales Australia, Saildrone is proud to announce the successful integration of the BlueSentry thin-line towed array with the Saildrone Surveyor—creating a fully autonomous, long-endurance system capable of persistent undersea and surface surveillance.
This partnership, funded by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), marks a significant leap forward in undersea surveillance capabilities.
Saildrone and Thales engineers work together to integrate and demonstrate the BlueSentry thin-line towed array with a Saildrone Surveyor USV.
In extensive sea trials off the coast of California, a Saildrone Surveyor-class unmanned surface vehicle (USV) equipped with the Thales BlueSentry array operated continuously for 26 days with uptime exceeding 96%, autonomously detecting and classifying undersea and surface threats. Detections were transmitted in real time via Starlink and Iridium satellite links, enabling rapid response to decision-makers worldwide.
The Surveyor’s ultra-quiet wind propulsion created a near-zero self-noise environment, significantly enhancing the acoustic performance of the BlueSentry sonar system.
“The acoustic performance of the BlueSentry array, paired with a platform as silent and capable as the Saildrone Surveyor, represents a considerable step forward in undersea observation,” said Saildrone founder and CEO Richard Jenkins. “The extreme endurance of the system allows us to put eyes and ears in places that were previously out of reach, at a cost point orders of magnitude below traditional manned surveillance platforms.”
This partnership delivers a ready-to-deploy capability that sets a new benchmark for undersea intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR)—particularly in remote and contested regions where traditional assets are costly and limited in endurance.
“The integration of Thales Australia’s BlueSentry onto Saildrone's Surveyor-class, as a core component of its maritime domain awareness solution, paves the way for greater naval interoperability between AUKUS partners and delivers on AUKUS Pillar 2 undersea warfare requirements,” said Jeff Connolly, CEO, Thales Australia and New Zealand.
As the global security environment becomes more dynamic, the need for scalable and persistent undersea awareness has never been greater. The Saildrone plus Thales system is a low-cost, high-endurance alternative to traditional crewed platforms—ready for deployment now and scalable to meet the evolving needs of our partners and allies.
