Pentagon wants to add more canoe-sized drone boats to its robotic fleet after Rio Grande success

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Following a pilot initiative launched in January that effectively detected and deterred drug trafficking and illegal border crossings, the Pentagon is considering expanding its deployment of autonomous, canoe-sized surveillance craft along the Rio Grande and across the Gulf of Mexico, a US official confirmed.

Built by San Diego startup Seasats, the uncrewed surface vessels patrol various riverways for long stretches without onboard personnel. Their deployment reflects an expanding effort across armed forces and law enforcement to leverage relatively inexpensive autonomous systems for ongoing security and surveillance missions.

The border deployment also highlights how a fresh wave of venture-backed defense firms is positioned to capture contracts long dominated by legacy contractors, as the Pentagon actively seeks faster, lower-cost methods to deploy emerging technologies capable of continuous, round-the-clock operations.

Powered by solar panels, the boats are currently being evaluated by defense officials for broader deployment across remote sections of the Rio Grande. Alongside Seasats, other private firms including Saronic, Saildrone, and Splash manufacture comparable maritime drones .

Military officials intend to scale up the robotic fleet from its current test group of 10 craft to as many as 50, aiming to reduce pressure on US Coast Guard cutters and crewed aircraft conducting border security operations under President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.

Maritime drones offer "cost-effective solutions to interdict and put people in these areas that narco traffickers are now moving towards," according to M. Roosevelt Ditlevson, assistant secretary of defense for Homeland Defense and Americas Security Affairs.

Small drones and uncrewed platforms have rapidly expanded throughout the US military over recent years, propelled by their repeated operational successes during the conflict in Ukraine.

The 11-foot, 340-pound Lightfish built by Seasats is a low-profile autonomous craft costing approximately $240,000 that can be deployed from a pickup truck bed or a standard boat ramp. The vessel can operate continuously for months in rough ocean conditions.

Equipped with electro-optical, infrared, and sonar sensors, the craft feed real-time tracking data straight into military software networks—such as the Maven Smart System from Palantir Technologies PLTR.O and Anduril Industries' Fortress platform—alerting US Customs and Border Protection and Coast Guard personnel.

Data released by the Pentagon indicates that during a typical month, Lightfish vessels assisted in 452 detections, 350 apprehensions, and 100 turnbacks, which refer to specific instances where groups abandon border crossing attempts after realizing they have been detected.

They "see that the vessel is waiting there for them, and they know that they've basically been found out," Ditlevson said.

The drone manufacturer captured global attention in July when Reuters reported that a commercial Lightfish vessel operating within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone navigated sufficiently close to a Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy guided-missile destroyer to film detailed close-up footage, proving how economical autonomous vessels can monitor high-value military assets.

If success continues, Ditlevson noted that Lightfish purchases could increase by 50 vessels and potentially extend into the Gulf of Mexico to construct a virtual radar fence between Texas and Key West. However, Ditlevson stated that expansion will proceed in incremental phases to test various technologies.

"We're agnostic to the vendor. We want the best technology," he told Reuters in an interview.

Seasats Chief Executive Mike Flanigan stated that autonomous uncrewed systems deliver persistent operational coverage that conventional, fuel-heavy military assets cannot match.

"A plane or a ship might go really far really fast, but if you say, 'I want to keep that Boeing 737 over a patch of ocean for a day,' it just can't do it," Flanigan said. "The boat doesn't cover nearly as much territory as fast, but it can stay there for months at a time, which is the key differentiator for these security and monitoring applications."

As intensified border enforcement and targeted military actions restrict drug smuggling pathways, cartels have increasingly turned toward coastal waterways and near-shore zones. The wider adoption of drones in the Gulf of Mexico serves as a stepping stone toward testing the craft in the rougher maritime environment of the Pacific Ocean near San Diego.

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