Hegseth Addresses Team Who Built Sea Drone Used to Rescue Downed Apache Crew

Sept. 18, 2026 | By C. Todd Lopez, Pentagon News |

In early June, an Army AH-64 Apache helicopter patrolling regional waters went down off the coast of Oman, leaving two crew members in need of rescue. An autonomous surface vessel — a U.S. Navy Corsair operated by the 5th Fleet's Task Force 59 — rescued the soldiers.

The autonomous seafaring vessel — manufactured by Texas-based Saronic — picked up the crew members and transported them to another location on the water where they were then hoisted into a helicopter for further transport.

Saronic builds a variety of autonomous vehicles for the U.S. military and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth visited the company and workforce today to see how they make hardware that enables the joint force. He thanked them for the work they are doing now and will do in the future as part of the Arsenal of Freedom tour.

"Having had a chance to tour this facility firsthand just a few moments ago, the scale, investment and precision of your projects [are] truly impressive," Hegseth told Saronic employees gathered at the company headquarters in Austin, Texas. "You are on the front lines of American industry, and that's the entire purpose of the Arsenal of Freedom tour. I had a chance to shake some hands along the assembly line ... the point ... of this tour is to look patriots in the eye and thank you for the work that you've done and for the work that you're doing."

Saronic makes three autonomous ocean-going vessels: the Corsair, the Mirage and the Marauder. Hegseth said vessels like these are destined to be at the heart of the U.S. military.

"What Saronic demonstrates is the future of American naval power, delivering over 300 combat-proven Corsairs; rapidly fueling the 52-foot Mirage and scaling blue water reach with the 180-foot Marauder, all built in under a year," he said. "In our building, we're used to timelines of seven, eight years. One year is not a thing ... I came to see and it's real. That's the kind of scale and speed that our department needs. The kind of competition our building needs, [and] the bureaucracy needs to realize that it can be done."

Warfare has always involved troops on the ground, but now it demands autonomy as well, and the War Department is leaning heavily into it with its Drone Dominance initiative. But autonomy doesn't just mean drones in the air — surface-level vehicles are also critical, he said, including those like the Corsair that rescued the Apache crew.

"Those pilots are alive today because of the incredible innovation under this very roof," he said. "You should be ... incredibly proud of that feat."

The secretary also told Saronic employees that the Corsair had done additional operational work beyond rescuing pilots.

In July, U.S. Central Command "employed the Corsair to strike a submarine and ship maintenance facility at Bandar Abbas Naval Base," he said. "The operation degraded Iran's ability to continue attacking commercial shipping and marked the first operational employment of sea drones in U.S. military combat operations."

To maintain the most powerful military in the world, Hegseth said, the War Department is reaching out to companies like Saronic and unleashing their potential to build the best equipment possible, and to do it without constraints, roadblocks or bureaucracy.

"The Department of War ... has been kicking the door wide open for commercial disruptors, nontraditional innovators and venture-backed builders; we are actively creating the next generation of defense primes, firms like Saronic," he said. "Our Arsenal of Freedom tour showcases how modern deterrence requires commercial speed."

The secretary said that under Emil Michael, undersecretary of war for research and engineering and chief technology officer for the War Department, the department has unified its innovation ecosystem under one roof to make decisions faster than past bureaucracies allowed. And with the leadership of Mike Duffey, undersecretary of war for acquisition and sustainment, the department is reforming acquisition to empower program executives and deploying multiyear procurement contracts.

Hegseth also lauded Saronic employees and executives for playing a big role in revitalizing the American shipbuilding industry. In Texas and Louisiana, he said, Saronic is building ships, creating jobs and strengthening the defense industrial base all at the same time.

"At the Port of Brownsville [in Texas], Port Alpha ... delivers a $3 billion investment, up to 10,000 high-paying jobs, over $160 billion in regional impact for Cameron County, [Texas,] and 150,000 ... gross tons of new shipbuilding capacity," he said. "This industrial muscle here will double domestic shipbuilding and ensure absolute dominance."

Saronic is also investing some $300 million in Louisiana, including at the Gulf Craft shipyard in Franklin, Louisiana, to build autonomous surface vessels.

"This effort creates over 1,500 high-paying maritime careers," Hegseth said. "Together, Franklin and New Orleans prove that combining historic craft with robotics creates an unbeatable industrial edge."

The secretary said Saronic and companies like it are the future of American shipbuilding, and at the heart of the rebirth of the American defense industrial base.

"All the strategies from the Pentagon are meaningless without the people on this floor: the technicians, the machinists, the fabricators and the engineers," he said. "Every platform you weld, wire and assemble gives our warfighters the decisive edge to win and return home. Never forget that direct line from your hands to the success of our warfighters."

The secretary implored Saronic workers to keep doing what they've been doing, and to do even more.

"Today I say to you: build faster, scale larger and deliver more," he said. "We need you like never before, because when America is unleashed, we win."

 

Naval Warfare Center Showcases Unmanned Refueling at Sea

Sept. 3, 2026 | By Latasha Chavez, Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division |

The Navy took a major step toward enabling persistent, unmanned operations last month when the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division led a demonstration off the coast of Virginia using a robotic towed connector to repeatedly capture, refuel and release an unmanned surface vessel at sea.

In seven months, a Navy-industry team moved from concept to real-world testing using the T38, a Navy-owned remotely controlled USV built by industry partners, and a towable capture and connection refueling system. 
 
The contracting partnership also helped the warfare center's Blue Water Instrumentation program address a broader operational challenge: keeping USVs and their sensors on station longer during critical capabilities testing without increasing reliance on crewed support. 
 
"At [Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division], our immediate focus is supporting hypersonic and precision long-range fires testing, where flight profiles can extend thousands of miles beyond fixed-range boundaries and require data-collection assets to be distributed across a vast area," said Spencer Holloway, director of the program's future capabilities office. "But the underlying challenge applies more broadly — every time an unmanned vessel must return to port for fuel, we lose persistence, reduce coverage and redundancy, and interrupt the mission." 
 
During the demonstration, the team ran dozens of full-cycle exercises at sea, in addition to pier-side demonstrations. The training support vessel USNS Vindicator towed the refueling system and transferred a total of 400 gallons of fuel to the T38 during the event. 
 
In total, the refueling system completed about 100 connection cycles over the course of a few days leading up to and including the event.

Ronald Raymer, branch head for capability, innovation, science and technology integration at U.S. Fleet Forces Command, also took part in the refueling demonstration. He said unmanned refueling can strengthen fleet readiness. 
 
"This will allow us to have greater reliance on unmanned vessels ... and we can push the USV into higher threat areas without risking manned vessels and personnel," he said. "It will also allow us to distribute greater capability into an area without having to invest in large, expensive manned vessels, and the refueling supports that." 
 
The event took place in the waters off Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Virginia, and was sponsored by U.S. Fleet Forces Command, Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division and Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division. 
 
The milestone also brought together the Blue Water Instrumentation program team, fleet management team and industry partners. Together, they executed an underway refueling demonstration designed for USVs. 
 
The Littoral Combat Ship Mission Modules Program Office and the Navy's Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Robotics and Autonomous Systems also provided contracting support that enabled BWI to partner with industry and to run the demonstration.

Holloway said the short timeline from inception of the refueling system to on-water demonstrations came from the collaboration between government and industry, which allowed the team to respond quickly to changes when needed. 
 
"Working directly with our industry partners allowed us to bring the platform, control systems, operators and engineers together as one integrated team," he said. "We could make changes, test them on the water and iterate quickly based on what we observed." 
 
The demonstration showed the role of government-industry collaboration in moving the refueling system from concept to testing in seven months.

BWI's next milestone is an end-to-end autonomous refueling demonstration that will test vessel rendezvous and approach, capture, fuel transfer, disconnection and return to mission as a single evolution.

USV Swarm Demonstrates Maritime Security Capabilities During Exercise Salaknib 26

June 17, 2026 | By Army Staff Sgt. Erik Warren, 28th Public Affairs Detachment |

Soldiers assigned to the 25th Infantry Division partnered with Philippine Army forces and industry representatives during Exercise Salaknib 2026 to demonstrate how autonomous maritime systems can enhance security and protect critical transportation operations in contested environments.

The maritime screen operation, conducted in the waters of the Casiguran Sound in the northeastern part of Luzon, Philippines, showcased the ability of U.S. and Philippine forces to integrate emerging technology into combined operations while strengthening interoperability between the longtime allies.

At the center of the mission were unmanned surface vessels, or USVs, operated by soldiers assigned to the 125th Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Battalion, 25th Infantry Division. They deployed a swarm of autonomous boats to establish a security screen across the waterway as a U.S. Army logistics support vessel approached the port.

The mission supported the more than 260-mile movement of Philippine Army vehicles and personnel, including armored personnel carriers, using the logistics support vessel. As the vessel transited the sound, the autonomous boats spread across a wide perimeter, continuously monitoring the maritime environment and relaying information to onshore personnel.

The operation demonstrated how autonomous systems can extend situational awareness beyond what traditional means can provide, enabling commanders to gain a clearer understanding of activity across the area of operations.

"I think it's great to integrate this emerging technology in these exercises; it builds trust in the U.S. and partner soldiers," said Ben Outlaw, an industry partner representative supporting the operation. "It also allows us to showcase and validate our systems interoperability between next-gen command and control nodes across all partner nations."

These boats provide situational awareness to commanders with their ability to find, fix, target, kill and confirm. With the information the USV provides, the commander's decision-making process is compressed from hours to seconds.

The maritime screen mission highlighted the growing role autonomous technologies can play in future military operations. Rather than relying solely on manned platforms, commanders can use multiple autonomous vessels operating simultaneously to maintain persistent awareness across large maritime areas.

During the operation, the USVs autonomously navigated while using onboard sensors to detect and report potential threats or anomalies within the operating area. Information collected by the vessels was transmitted in near real time, a capability that will allow commanders to maintain continuous awareness of the maritime domain and make informed decisions.

For soldiers operating the systems, the exercise provided valuable experience integrating advanced technology into a multinational environment.

"I've really enjoyed working with the USVs during Salaknib 2026," said Army Pvt. Caleb Hannah, exercise participant assigned to the 125th Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Battalion.

The team deployed the autonomous intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance boats to provide security for landing craft. The systems escorted the logistics support vessel to port from about 6 miles out, allowing Philippine vehicles to roll onto the dock.

Exercise Salaknib 2026 provides U.S. and Philippine forces with opportunities to train in partnership across multiple domains, enhancing readiness and strengthening the alliance between the two nations. The maritime screen mission served as an example of how emerging technologies can be integrated into combined operations to improve security, increase operational flexibility and expand commanders' options during future contingencies.