Denmark: Siltanews – News Desk
On June 16, 2025, the U.S.-based company Saildrone officially announced the operational deployment of four Voyager unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) in Danish waters for a three-month mission. The deployment, conducted in collaboration with the Danish Ministry of Defense Acquisition and Logistics Organization (DALO), follows the launch of the first two Voyagers on June 6, 2025. These vehicles were released during an official event held at Køge Marina, attended by representatives from DALO, the Danish Defense Innovation Unit, the Royal Danish Navy Command, the Defense Command Denmark, EIFO (the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark), and Saildrone.
The Saildrone Voyager is a 10-meter-long USV designed to conduct near-shore maritime security and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.
This operational testing marks the first use of the Voyager platform by the Danish Armed Forces and forms part of a broader effort to evaluate unmanned maritime surveillance capabilities in areas including the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, and the European Arctic. The operation also coincides with the formal establishment of Saildrone’s European subsidiary in Copenhagen, launched earlier this year with support from EIFO as part of a $60 million funding round to expand Saildrone’s activities in Europe.
The Saildrone Voyager is a 10-meter-long USV designed to conduct near-shore maritime security and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. Its propulsion system is based primarily on wind and solar power, supplemented by a 4 kW electric motor for low-wind and near-shore operations. The vessel features a 6-meter wing height, a 2-meter draft, and a cruising speed of approximately 5 knots. With an endurance exceeding three months, the platform is capable of long-duration autonomous operations.
Each Voyager is equipped with multiple sensors and data collection systems, including a NORBIT Winghead i80s multibeam sonar for bathymetric mapping up to 300 meters deep, an Innomar “medium-USV” sub-bottom profiler, and environmental sensors for measuring wind speed and direction, air temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, salinity, and dissolved oxygen.
Additional onboard systems include a FLIR M364C pan-tilt-zoom camera, Furuno DRS4D-NXT radar, sub-surface passive acoustics, a Class B AIS transceiver, and satellite communication via Starlink and Iridium networks. A suite of on-board and remote AI tools supports autonomous navigation, target identification, and real-time data transmission.
The Danish Armed Forces are employing the Voyager USVs to enhance maritime domain awareness in a region characterized by increased geopolitical complexity and infrastructure vulnerability. The Baltic Sea region includes essential undersea infrastructure such as pipelines and data cables, and is bordered by several NATO and partner countries. The Voyagers will support efforts to monitor these zones amid growing naval activity and concerns related to hybrid threats.
The deployment was coordinated by multiple branches of the Danish military and defense establishment, including DALO, the Royal Danish Navy, the Defense Innovation Unit, and the national Drone Center. According to statements made by Danish officials and Saildrone executives, the testing is intended to assess the operational benefits of uncrewed maritime systems in surveillance roles and their integration into national defense frameworks. The project also explores their utility in strengthening presence in difficult-to-access maritime areas where conventional patrol assets may face constraints related to cost, endurance, or availability.