Saildrone's Surveyor Fired Its First Missiles From a Lockheed Launcher at RIMPAC
Lockheed Martin bolted a JAGM launcher to the bow of a Saildrone Surveyor and the Navy's own fire control pulled the trigger at RIMPAC. The demonstration produced two shots and no order.
A sensing hull became a shooter when Lockheed Martin supplied the launcher and the Navy supplied the fire control.
Saildrone and Lockheed Martin launched two Joint Air-to-Ground Missiles from a Surveyor-class uncrewed surface vessel during the Navy's Rim of the Pacific exercise off Hawaii, the companies announced Thursday. The rounds came off a JAGM dual launcher mounted on the Surveyor's bow. Saildrone called it the first missile launch from one of its vessels. Neither company disclosed a contract or a value.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Saildrone and Lockheed Martin actually do?
They launched two Joint Air-to-Ground Missiles from a Surveyor-class Saildrone uncrewed surface vessel off Hawaii during the Navy's RIMPAC 2026 exercise, using a JAGM dual launcher mounted on the bow. Saildrone describes it as the first missile launch from one of its vessels.
Who controlled the shot?
The Navy did. The demonstration ran under the Fleet Experimentation Program and used ARES, the Navy's remotely operated combat system, in coordination with the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group. The vessel fired on target data for a surrogate high-speed surface craft.
What is JAGM?
The Joint Air-to-Ground Missile is Lockheed Martin's successor to the Hellfire, using a dual-mode semi-active laser and millimeter-wave seeker. Lockheed says it works across air, maritime and ground domains and has all-weather counter-drone capability.
Did the demonstration come with a contract?
No. Neither company disclosed a value, a quantity, a delivery date or a program of record for an armed Saildrone. Lockheed invested $50 million in Saildrone in October 2025, and both firms date this launch to six months of joint work after that.
What is the Saildrone Spectre?
Spectre is Saildrone's largest uncrewed surface vessel at 52 meters, still under construction, designed for containerized payloads including Lockheed's Mk 70 launcher and towed arrays for anti-submarine work. Per The Maritime Executive, it is sized for the Navy's Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel competition.
AI-generated summary, reviewed by an editor. More on our AI guidelines.
Below this point
4 more sections.
Saildrone brings the hull and the endurance. The 20-meter Surveyor has run surveillance and ocean-mapping missions since 2013 and can hold station for months at a time, the company says. It carried no weapon. Lockheed brings the half Saildrone lacked: the JAGM, a dual-mode seeker missile that succeeds the Hellfire, plus the launcher to hold it. Lockheed took a $50 million stake in Saildrone in October 2025. Both firms date the RIMPAC shot to six months of joint engineering that followed.
The Navy supplied the trigger. The demonstration ran under the Fleet Experimentation Program and used ARES, the service's own remotely operated combat system. The vessel fired on target data for a surrogate high-speed craft, working alongside the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group, the joint announcement said. That put a commercial hull inside a Navy firing chain rather than beside it. The Surveyor also flew a passive electronic-warfare sensor at the exercise, detecting and classifying a surrogate threat radar with an MH-60 helicopter.
The demonstration produced no order. Neither company named a quantity, a delivery date or a program of record for an armed Saildrone, and the shots themselves were fired over the summer, months before Thursday's disclosure. Saildrone is building the 52-meter Spectre for the Navy's Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel competition, a program The Maritime Executive reports was recently restructured. The heavier weapon founder Richard Jenkins wants, Lockheed's Mk 70 launcher, has not been fitted to any Saildrone hull.
Lockheed calls the RIMPAC shot the first of several tests putting Saildrone platforms on Navy combat systems. The next proof point is the Mk 70 reaching Spectre, a hull still under construction.
Marcus Schuler
Marcus Schuler edits BattlePolicy, a daily defense-technology brief connecting the companies and capabilities behind modern war to the contest among Europe, the US, Russia, and China.