Uncrewed surface vessel builder Saronic Technologies, Austin, Texas, and shipbuilder Vigor Marine Group, Portland, Ore., on Monday announced a strategic partnership aimed at rapidly advancing autonomous maritime capabilities and bolstering operational support for both defense and commercial customers.
The collaboration brings together Saronic, a $4 billion defense startup specializing in autonomous surface vessels (ASV), and Vigor, an established name in vessel construction, repair, and maintenance. Together, the companies intend to offer a full lifecycle solution for maritime customers facing evolving operational and readiness demands.
Vigor’s experience spans decades in aluminum and small vessel fabrication, ship modernization, and maintenance. With a presence on both U.S. coasts, the company supports a wide range of military and commercial maritime operations. Saronic, meanwhile, is known for its technical edge in maritime autonomy and rapid ASV production.
"Under the agreement, Vigor and Saronic will work closely to identify opportunities to advance the priorities of core U.S. government and commercial maritime customers. Together, the partners are focused on accelerating innovation while expanding the industrial and operational support required for autonomy at scale," the companies said in a press release.
“This partnership brings together two leaders in the maritime industry to collaboratively create a full lifecycle solution that can ensure our maritime customers are mission-ready today and into the future,” Dino Mavrookas, co-founder and CEO of Saronic, said in a statement. “Combining Saronic’s technical leadership in autonomous maritime systems and scaled production with Vigor’s strategically located infrastructure and experience in maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) and lifecycle sustainment creates new opportunities to accelerate capability delivery and ensure that government and commercial customers can count on a reliable, trusted sustainment network to meet the readiness requirements for larger autonomous ships today and into the future.”
Saronic is one of several companies developing autonomous vessels intended for the U.S. Navy. In February, it raised $600 million in a Series C round, boosting its valuation to $4 billion. In April, Saronic acquired a nearly 100-acre facility from Gulf Craft, Franklin, La., which will serve as a prototyping and production hub.
Francesco Valente, CEO of Vigor Marine Group, said in a statement that the partnership represents a "tremendous opportunity for Vigor Marine Group to harness our innovative spirit and long history in the marine fabrication and MRO markets to provide solutions for our customers in this rapidly changing maritime environment.
“As an industry leader, we are always looking ahead at our customers’ future needs, whether in military readiness or commercial uses," Valente continued. "With this partnership, we are aligning our core strengths to advance autonomous maritime capabilities that meet the urgent and evolving needs of our defense and commercial customers.”
Mark Norris, vice president of Vigor Marine Fabrication, added, “Exploring the combination of Saronic’s autonomy technologies and Vigor’s experience in marine vessel fabrication, subsystem integration, and MRO support enables us to find solutions to better support the warfighter.”
