U.S. Marine Corps to test electric seaglider in the field

The U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Lab has added $5 million to its work with REGENT Craft on the Seaglider, an electric craft that skims just above the water, bringing the total value of the partnership to $19.25 million, the Rhode Island company said on Sept. 30.

The new money funds a fourth phase with six deliverables. REGENT says they center on showing what the full-scale Viceroy Seaglider prototype can do in conditions closer to real operations, and on command-and-control work covering how the craft would be tasked, tracked and coordinated alongside other military assets. The company did not give a timeline for the phase or say where the demonstrations will take place.

The partnership has grown in steps. A $4.75 million first and second phase tested whether the concept was technically feasible, and a $9.5 million third phase paid for demonstrations of the full-scale prototype. REGENT says that phase has now been completed, including flight.

“What started as a feasibility question has become a real operational program, and that trajectory says a lot about where this technology is headed,” said Billy Thalheimer, co-founder and CEO of REGENT.

A Seaglider floats in port like a boat, rises onto a hydrofoil as it picks up speed, and then lifts off to fly within one wingspan of the surface. Flying that low uses a cushion of air trapped between the wing and the water, known as ground effect, which cuts drag and lets a battery-powered craft carry useful loads over longer distances.

REGENT says the Viceroy will fly at up to 290 km/h (180 mph) on routes of up to 290 km (180 miles). Because it takes off and lands on water, it does not need a runway, and it can be recharged from shore or from a ship. The company also says the craft’s low flight path keeps it under radar coverage while its electric motors give off little heat, though those claims have not been independently tested in public.

The Viceroy prototype flew in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, on Sept. 2, a step REGENT called a key milestone in its test campaign. The company is also testing Squire, a smaller autonomous Seaglider.

For the U.S. Marine Corps, the draw is logistics. REGENT pitches the craft as a way to move troops and equipment quickly between islands and ships without relying on airfields or ports, the kind of dispersed operations the U.S. Marine Corps has been planning for in the Pacific.

“This next phase of our MCWL partnership is about putting the technology in the hands of the warfighter so they can fully realize the advantages Seagliders bring to the forward-operating areas,” said Becky Russo, REGENT’s director of defense mission integration.

REGENT says it has secured more than $340 million in funding commitments from investors, including Lockheed Martin and Japan Airlines, and has civilian orders on six continents.