Sea-Air-Space: Saildrone, Thales Australia Create Alternative to Traditional Surveillance Platforms

Through a project funded by the Office of Naval Research, Saildrone (Booth 1905) has integrated its Surveyor with a BlueSentry thin-line towed array from Thales Australia (Booth 1247), creating a system for autonomous long-endurance undersea maritime domain awareness.

Extensive sea trials conducted off the coast of California have demonstrated this system can effectively detect and classify both underwater and surface threats and report this information to decision makers in real time. During the ONR trial, the Saildrone Surveyor and BlueSentry system operated continuously for 26 days and maintained uptime greater than 96%. 

The trials showed that, under wind propulsion, the Surveyor provided a near-zero self-noise environment, significantly improving the detection capabilities of the BlueSentry sonar system.

Using Starlink and Iridium satellite communications, the system is capable of persistent, secure data transmission even in sensitive and remote locations that have significant operational challenges. The system is also designed to pave the way for greater naval interoperability between AUKUS partners and delivers on AUKUS Pillar 2 undersea warfare requirements.