Last month, Saronic completed a continuous, week-long test operation designed to push the limits of their 24-foot Autonomous Surface Vessel, Corsair. Conducted as part of ongoing independent research and development efforts, this exercise ran 24/7 with the goal of accomplishing two things: sustaining Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) operations without interruption and evaluating opportunities for improvement across both hardware and software. The team conducted a range of demanding missions, including autonomous harbor transits, long-distance endurance runs, and continuous loiter operations.
Over the course of the test, the Corsair fleet logged over 4,500 nautical miles – nearly twice the width of the United States. The vessels operated day and night, across multiple sea states, and in conditions that could not have been endured by a human operator. The team evaluated opportunities for improvement across both hardware and software, and further validated Corsair's performance margins, all of which allow Saronic to continue to improve and advance the platform.
This exercise demonstrated Corsair's ability to deliver both persistent presence and sustained range, delivering reliable, autonomous coverage in demanding real-world maritime environments. The data generated throughout the exercise was invaluable to understanding system and subsystem performance, and where opportunities exist to further advance Saronic's software and autonomy. The team also completed successful at-sea launch and recovery during daytime and nighttime operations, demonstrating how larger ships can deploy and retrieve their ASVs without returning to port or interrupting broader fleet maneuvers.
In real threat environments, navigation and communications may be jammed, spoofed, or intentionally left off to avoid detection, making passive sensing essential for maritime missions in contested areas. Saronic ran multiple intercept missions with simulated communication-denied environments both day and night and across varying sea states, demonstrating Corsair's ability to navigate quietly using only its internal navigation and what it can see and hear. This type of navigation is orders of magnitude harder than GPS-supported operation, but essential for maritime forces seeking to tackle communication-denied or degraded operations.
This exercise showcases the capabilities of the Corsair platform in a real-world setting, demonstrating its ability to deliver reliable, autonomous coverage in demanding environments. The data generated will be invaluable in supporting model development, replay and regression testing, and algorithm refinement, ultimately leading to continuous improvement of the system.
