Seasats Lands $24M Department of War Award to Accelerate Autonomous Fleet Expansion

SAN DIEGO, CA – January 15, 2026 – By Jack Patterson

Seasats, a San Diego-based developer of long-endurance autonomous surface vessels (ASVs), has secured a $24 million award from the Department of War to rapidly scale production of its maritime drone fleet. The funding, part of the Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) program, was awarded based on recommendations from the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, signaling a major investment in the company’s proven technology and its central role in the future of naval operations.

The award is designed to accelerate the procurement and fielding of Seasats’ ASVs, which have already demonstrated significant capabilities in naval exercises and record-setting autonomous voyages across the globe. This infusion of capital aims to transition the company's innovative platforms from successful prototypes into a scaled, operational force multiplier for the American warfighter.

"This APFIT award is another exciting milestone in our mission to deliver high value ocean autonomy at scale," said Mike Flanigan, CEO of Seasats, in a statement. "This funding enables us to scale our production which lowers long term program costs. It also helps us to accelerate our efforts so that we can deliver a key capability to the warfighter faster. It's a win-win."

A Strategic Investment in a Hybrid Fleet

The funding for Seasats is not an isolated investment but a clear indicator of the Navy's commitment to its core strategic doctrine of Distributed Maritime Operations (DMO). This concept envisions a future “hybrid fleet” where smaller, more numerous, and often unmanned platforms work in concert with traditional crewed warships. By dispersing its sensor and weapons capabilities across a wider area, the Navy aims to create a more resilient and lethal force that is harder for adversaries to target.

Autonomous systems like those built by Seasats are the backbone of this strategy. Their long-endurance vessels can provide persistent intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) over vast stretches of ocean, extending the reach of the fleet at a fraction of the cost and risk of deploying manned assets. This shift is already underway, with the Navy's inventory of small USVs surging from just four to nearly 400 in 2025 alone, with projections aiming for 500 by the end of fiscal year 2026.

This strategic integration is most visible in the Navy's specialized unmanned task forces. Task Force 59, operating in the Middle East, and Task Force 66 in Europe were established specifically to experiment with and rapidly integrate commercial-off-the-shelf unmanned systems. Seasats has been a key partner in both, deploying its vessels in major exercises like Digital Horizon and BALTOPS, proving their utility and operational readiness in complex, real-world environments.

From Prototype to Prowess: A Proven Track Record

Seasats' selection for the APFIT award was heavily influenced by its extensive and verifiable record of operational success. The company has moved far beyond the prototype stage, demonstrating unmatched reliability and endurance that has captured the attention of military planners.

In a remarkable feat of engineering and autonomy, a Seasats Lightfish ASV completed a record-setting transatlantic crossing for the Navy in 2025. Launched from South Carolina, the vessel navigated approximately 4,000 miles to Portugal in just over two months, monitored by Task Force 66. This followed an even longer 7,500-mile transpacific voyage from San Diego to Japan earlier that year, a 150-day journey that included a close encounter where the autonomous vessel captured imagery of a Chinese destroyer near Guam.

These high-profile missions are built on a foundation of significant contractual trust with the Department of War. In October 2025, Seasats was awarded an $89 million ceiling Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase III contract to deliver its Lightfish USVs directly to the Marine Corps for persistent ISR missions. An SBIR Phase III award is a critical milestone, signifying that a technology has proven its worth and is being procured for operational use, bypassing further competition.

This string of successes, from multi-month ocean crossings to direct integration with fleet operations in critical regions, has firmly established the company as a reliable and essential partner in the Navy's modernization efforts.

Bridging the 'Valley of Death' with APFIT

The $24 million award comes from the APFIT program, an initiative established in 2022 specifically to solve one of the Pentagon's most persistent problems: the “valley of death.” This term describes the funding gap where promising technologies from small or non-traditional companies, having completed research and development, fail to secure the necessary procurement contracts to enter full-scale production.

APFIT provides that crucial bridge funding, targeting mature technologies nominated by military end-users for rapid fielding. With a budget that has swelled from $100 million in its pilot year to a $1.4 billion authority in FY26, the program is a powerful tool for injecting innovation into the military. By focusing on procurement-ready tech, APFIT accelerates the delivery of new capabilities to warfighters by an average of one to two years.

The press release's reference to the "Department of War" also reflects a recent shift in executive branch nomenclature. An executive order signed in September 2025 authorized the use of "Department of War" as a secondary title for the Department of Defense, a move intended to project a message of strength and readiness. While the legal name remains the Department of Defense, the adoption of this historical title in official communications, such as this award announcement, aligns with a new rhetorical posture from the administration.

For a company like Seasats, the APFIT award is more than just money; it is a vote of confidence from its primary customer and a clear demand signal to scale up. The funding will enable the company to expand its manufacturing capabilities, strengthen its supply chain, and deliver its cost-effective vessels in the numbers required by the Navy and Marine Corps. The program's track record shows that such investments have a powerful multiplier effect, with APFIT awards historically generating more than triple their value in follow-on contracts, further strengthening the U.S. industrial base.