AIBRIEF
The 11 foot Seasats Lightfish costs $240,000 per vessel, runs for months on solar power, and feeds sensor data into Palantir and Anduril systems used by Customs and Border Protection and the Coast Guard.
The Pentagon is studying whether to grow its fleet of autonomous surface vessels on the Rio Grande and in the Gulf of Mexico from 10 boats to as many as 60, according to a Reuters report by Mike Stone.
The unit of account is the Lightfish, an 11-foot, 340-pound solar-powered boat built by San Diego startup Seasats. Each vessel costs roughly $240,000, can be launched from a boat ramp or the back of a pickup truck, and operates for months in rough seas. Its sensor payload includes electro-optical, infrared, and sonar cameras, with tracking data fed in real time into Palantir Technologies' Maven Smart System and Anduril Industries' Fortress software, which alerts Customs and Border Protection and Coast Guard units.
"These are cost-effective solutions to interdict and put people in these areas that narco traffickers are now moving towards," M. Roosevelt Ditlevson, assistant secretary of defense for Homeland Defense and Americas Security Affairs, told Reuters.
The pilot, which began in January 2026, is meant to relieve crewed Coast Guard cutters and aircraft on the Mexico border as part of President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. Other named USV suppliers include Saronic, Saildrone, and Splash, venture-backed startups the wire says are winning work once dominated by traditional defense contractors.
The expansion target, as many as 50 additional vessels, is under study, not a confirmed contract award, and pilot performance numbers have not been disclosed.