Drones
Swedish Navy to field four Saildrone uncrewed surface vessels for Baltic surveillance via NORDEFCO
The Swedish Armed Forces and the FMV defence materiel agency have agreed a deal with US company Saildrone for four uncrewed surface vessels for surveillance of the Baltic Sea, concluded under Nordic defence cooperation NORDEFCO. The Navy will show the vessels on October 22.
The Swedish Armed Forces and the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) have signed an agreement with US company Saildrone for four uncrewed surface vessels for surveillance. The deal was announced in a press invitation from the Swedish Navy, which will present the vessels on Thursday, October 22, in Nynäshamn, south of Stockholm.
The agreement was drawn up under the Nordic defence cooperation NORDEFCO, so that other Nordic countries can sign similar contracts according to their needs. NORDEFCO members are Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. Denmark tested Saildrone vessels last year, according to Nordic Defence Sector. It is a service contract: the drones are ten-metre sailing vessels operated and monitored continuously by company personnel. The Navy assigns them missions and receives their data around the clock. The value and duration of the contract were not announced.
Using various sensors, the drones collect information on what is moving in the Baltic Sea and contribute to the maritime situational picture. According to the Armed Forces, this gives the Navy greater endurance at sea, for example in detecting vessels moving close to the Swedish coast. The service has been operating since October 2026.
The vessels also contribute to NATO’s Task Force X Baltic, a programme to speed up the deployment of uncrewed surveillance within the Alliance. It began under Operation Baltic Sentry, to better protect undersea infrastructure in the Baltic Sea after a series of cable cuts in 2024 and 2025.
The demonstration, lasting about two hours, will let journalists see a sailing drone up close, moored at the pier and at sea, and talk to representatives of the FMV and Saildrone. Also attending will be Navy Chief of Operations Captain Paula Wallenburg and Defence Minister Pål Jonson and, according to the government, Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer. Uncrewed maritime systems are playing a growing role in naval operations, as Australia’s Ghost Shark also shows.