Saildrone targets European market with Danish subsidiary

A Surveyor USV arrives in Guam. (Saildrone)

Saildrone is establishing a local subsidiary in Denmark to bring its maritime domain awareness capabilities to the European market, according to a company statement in early April. The move is driven by the “geography and the political dynamic[s] in and around the Baltic”, John Mustin, who was named president of Saildrone on 7 April, told Janes on 24 April.

“We are very interested in expanding our presence, both in the Baltic and in the North Sea, but ultimately even extending out into the Greenland-Iceland-UK [GIUK] gap,” he said, noting that Denmark was “an investment friendly, defence friendly partner”. “Establishing a starting point in Copenhagen was a very easy decision for us,” Mustin added.

He declined to say if Saildrone already has customers in the region but emphasised the demand for maritime domain awareness in the Baltic region, including from new NATO members Finland and Sweden, and said that “there is potential growth that's very exciting for us”.

Saildrone platforms are “uniquely suited to address” the challenges in the Baltic, enabling countries to expand their fleets to patrol their borders, Mustin said. “The way that we've got the classification algorithms, and the way that we've got radar and EO/IR [electro-optic/infrared] and satcom [satellite communications] and acoustic, anything that's on the surface or below the surface, we can help nations” identify concerns, he said.

Danish subsidiary