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U.S. Navy Sends 20 Saildrones to Surveil Drug Smuggling Corridors

Saildrone
Courtesy Saildrone

Published Feb 3, 2025 1:52 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

The U.S. Navy has reached an agreement with Saildrone to double the number of long-range unmanned vessels deployed on a surveillance mission in the drug transit zones of the Eastern Pacific and the Caribbean, the California-based company announced Monday. 

The firm said that 20 Saildrone Voyager USVs will be sent south to help combat the maritime flow of drugs to the United States. The new Saildrones will be equipped with an upgraded sensor suite, and will operate in support of Joint Interagency Task Force South and U.S. Fourth Fleet. Saildrone says that the high-endurance Voyager models will serve as a deterrent to smugglers, since the odds of detection will be so high. Since the costs of operation are so low, the small unmanned platforms can be deployed at scdale to close surveillance gaps that couldn't be filled with Coast Guard manned cutters. 

"In Operation Southern Spear, the fleet will continue to assess the full capabilities of [unmanned systems] and how best to integrate them in US Navy and JIATF-S missions. The common maritime operational picture will allow our team the ability to monitor and support the detection and monitoring of illicit trafficking in our areas of operation," said Fourth Fleet director of innovation Cmdr. Jon Williams in a statement. 

Saildrone operates its own equipment on a charter basis rather than selling drones to customers. The contract covers 180 sailing days per vessel for 20 vessels (3,600 sailing days in total). 

The Navy did not specify the regions of emphasis or the proximity to the U.S. EEZ. Law enforcement focus varies in U.S. Fourth Fleet by region, and is primarily centered on migrant interdiction within the U.S. EEZ and high-dollar-value cocaine smuggling further away. U.S. maritime counternarcotics operations are heavily focused on waters near Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, in the smuggling corridors to Central America and Mexico. However, there are new opportunities to bust drug smugglers nearer U.S. shores: the Gulf Cartel has been ramping up drug smuggling and IUU fishing from its base in Tamaulipas, dispatching boats into the U.S. EEZ.