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."
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