
Austal USA and Saildrone Inc. announced on Tuesday they are starting a new “strategic partnership” for the former to produce Saildrone autonomous unmanned surface vehicle (USVs). This means Austal USA’s Mobile, Ala., aluminum hull shipyard facilities will start to be the exclusive builder of Saildrone’s Surveyor unmanned vessels for the Navy and other clients. Austal said it will start building the first Saildrone Surveyor vehicles for the Navy in October 2022. The vessel is 65 feet long and designed for…