en.Wedoany.com Reported - US defense technology company Saronic Technologies has launched its first 52-foot autonomous surface vessel, the Mirage, and has begun water trials at a test site along the Gulf Coast in Galveston, Texas.
The Mirage is a mid-sized platform in Saronic's autonomous surface vessel portfolio, as the Austin-based company scales up production to move beyond the smaller Corsair vessel. The vessel went from initial design to launch in under a year, with the next hull already on the production line at the Austin headquarters. The Mirage joins the 24-foot Corsair and the 180-foot Marauder as Saronic's third flagship platform; the first Marauder was launched four weeks before the Mirage's unveiling. Dino Mavrookas, co-founder and CEO of Saronic, stated that launching the first Marauder four weeks ago and now the Mirage reflects the pace their production model aims to achieve.
The Mirage has a top speed exceeding 35 knots, a range of over 2,500 nautical miles, and a payload capacity of 3,500 pounds. Saronic claims the vessel's range and payload capacity are more than double those of the Corsair. This autonomous surface vessel can operate fully autonomously via Saronic's Echelon command and control platform, or under human remote supervision, and is designed for maritime domain awareness, maritime security, and air and surface detection missions. The Mirage uses the same core autonomous stack as Saronic's vessel series, including passive sensing, collaborative autonomy, navigation, tracking, and detection capabilities. Its open modular architecture allows for the integration of government off-the-shelf and commercial off-the-shelf hardware and software, including mission payloads, sensor suites, and command and control systems, without requiring platform redesign.
Saronic stated that the Mirage was designed and manufactured at its Austin headquarters, where the company develops hardware and software as an integrated system. The facility can produce hundreds of Mirage vessels and thousands of Corsair vessels annually. Saronic Technologies is a privately held defense and space manufacturing company headquartered in Austin, Texas, specializing in the development of unmanned surface vessels and autonomous software for maritime operations.
