The US Coast Guard is concluding its scheduled 2026 seasonal evaluation of six Saildrone Voyager unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) on the Great Lakes this week ahead of forecasted winter icing conditions. Following the completion of this seasonal evaluation, the Coast Guard intends to conduct an additional test and evaluation period in the spring of 2027 as part of a service-wide effort to evaluate how autonomous technologies enhance Coast Guard missions and assist operators.

Saildrone Voyager SD-2050 on a mission for the US Coast Guard in the Great Lakes. (Image credit: Saildrone)

Deployed between April and November 2026 across the Great Lakes, the six 33-foot, wind- and solar-powered vessels provided Coast Guard command centers and boat stations with real-time offshore weather data and operational insight across thousands of square miles of open water.

“The US Coast Guard is testing and evaluating autonomous systems across the Service in various areas of responsibility and environments to ensure these…