Saildrone expands its European market reach with manufacturing partner in Norway

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A model of a Saildrone uncrewed surface vessel is displayed at the Euronaval 2026 naval defense equipment fair in Villepinte, near Paris, on Nov. 3, 2026. (Ludovic Marin / AFP via Getty Images)

PARIS — U.S.-based naval drone maker Saildrone has picked Norwegian naval builder Umoe Mandal to produce the Surveyor multipurpose surveillance craft locally, with an eye on new sales in Northern Europe, company executives said.

The Norwegian shipbuilder, headquartered on the country’s southern tip reaching into the North Sea, specializes in composite structures for the naval sector, including masts for British Type 26 frigates. CEO Tom Fidjeland told reporters at the Euronaval trade show here that taking on the work of churning out Surveyors was “technically not difficult,” with a first mold already being readied.

“Mandal’s role in producing the Surveyor will strengthen Europe’s maritime defense industrial base and support the delivery of sovereign maritime domain awareness capabilities to Northern European navies,” Saildrone said in a statement.

The U.S. company will provide its autonomy suite, navigation, electronics and surveillance technology to be mounted on the Norwegian-built Surveyor bodies, the plan goes.

The Surveyor drone is 20 meters long, powered by a diesel motor and wind — a sail-like structure 13 meters high that also houses the onboard electronics. Saildrone markets the vehicle, which can be left alone cruising the ocean for up to 100 days, as a data collector on adversaries and maritime conditions. Multiple drones can be networked to increase the coverage area, according to the manufacturer.

Saildrone’s lineup also includes the smaller Explorer and Voyager models, as well we the larger Spectre, a weapons-capable version still in development.

The partnership comes as the U.S. company has positioned itself to sell naval drones to European navies keen on policing their territorial waters, including in the Baltic and North seas as well as Arctic locales.

Saildrone’s managing director for Europe, Robert Kleist, cited an alliance of Northern European nations Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, NORDEFCO for short, as a potential business generator for naval drones. The pact entails an acquisition track that could spin out national task orders for unmanned platforms, for which Saildrone would then compete, Kleist said.

Umoe Mandall CEO Fidjeland said his company will build a new production site near its main plant devoted to cranking out Surveyors, with an initial production rate of at least two per month.

In October, Saildrone announced a yearlong maritime surveillance mission involving four Voyager drone for the Swedish Navy. Denmark, which straddles the North and Baltic seas, a key transit route for Russian warships heading to the open Atlantic, has been using the craft since 2025.

Saildrone announced a European headquarters in Copenhagen in August, noting plans for an expanded drone production footprint in Europe. Besides Norway, those entail making Spectre boats in the Netherlands at yacht maker Van Der Valk Shipyard, and Surveyor wings in Poland, Saildrone founder and CEO Richard Jenkins said then.

Sebastian Sprenger is associate editor for Europe at Defense News, reporting on the state of the defense market in the region, and on U.S.-Europe cooperation and multi-national investments in defense and global security. Previously he served as managing editor for Defense News. He is based in Cologne, Germany.

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2026年11月3日，在巴黎附近的维勒潘特举行的2026年欧洲海军防务装备展上，展出了Saildrone无人水面舰艇的模型。（Ludovic Marin / AFP via Getty Images）

巴黎——美国海军无人机制造商 Saildrone 的高管表示，该公司已选择挪威海军造船厂 Umoe Mandal 在当地生产 Surveyor 多用途监视艇，着眼于北欧的新销售。

这家总部位于挪威南端、濒临北海的造船厂，专门为海军领域生产复合材料结构，包括英国26型护卫舰的桅杆。首席执行官汤姆·菲杰兰德在本次欧洲海军展上告诉记者，生产Surveyors型船体“技术上并不困难”，第一个模具已经准备就绪。

Saildrone 在一份声明中表示：“Mandal 在制造 Surveyor 无人机方面发挥的作用将加强欧洲的海上防御工业基础，并支持向北欧海军提供自主海上领域感知能力。”

根据计划，这家美国公司将提供其自主系统、导航、电子设备和监控技术，并将其安装在挪威制造的 Surveyor 船体上。

这款名为“勘测者”（Surveyor）的无人机长20米，由柴油发动机和风力驱动——其动力系统是一个13米高的帆状结构，内部电子设备也集成于此。Saildrone公司将这款无人机定位为敌方情报和海况数据采集器，它可以在海上自主巡航长达100天。据制造商称，多架无人机可以联网以扩大覆盖范围。

Saildrone 的产品线还包括较小的 Explorer 和 Voyager 型号，以及较大的 Spectre，这是一款具备武器能力的版本，目前仍在开发中。

此次合作正值这家美国公司致力于向欧洲海军出售海军无人机之际，这些海军热衷于维护其领海安全，包括波罗的海、北海以及北极地区。

Saildrone欧洲区总经理罗伯特·克莱斯特指出，由丹麦、芬兰、冰岛、挪威和瑞典组成的北欧联盟（简称NORDEFCO）是海军无人机业务的潜在增长点。克莱斯特表示，该联盟包含一条采购渠道，有望催生各国对无人平台的订单，届时Saildrone将参与竞标。

Umoe Mandall 首席执行官 Fidjeland 表示，他的公司将在其主厂附近建造一个新的生产基地，专门生产 Surveyor，初始产量至少为每月两台。

今年10月，Saildrone公司宣布将为瑞典海军执行一项为期一年的海上监视任务，该任务将使用四架Voyager无人机。丹麦横跨北海和波罗的海，是俄罗斯军舰前往大西洋的重要通道，该国自2025年起就开始使用这种无人机。

Saildrone于8月宣布在哥本哈根设立欧洲总部，并表示计划扩大在欧洲的无人机生产规模。Saildrone创始人兼首席执行官理查德·詹金斯当时表示，除了挪威，这些计划还包括在荷兰的游艇制造商Van Der Valk船厂生产Spectre无人机，以及在波兰生产Surveyor无人机机翼。

塞巴斯蒂安·斯普伦格是《防务新闻》欧洲版副主编，负责报道该地区的防务市场状况，以及美欧在防务和全球安全领域的合作和多国投资。此前，他曾担任《防务新闻》执行主编。他现居德国科隆。