At left, a concept photo of the unmanned surface vehicle that will be demonstrated by Spatial Integrated System in the maritime domain awareness technology evaluation by the Coast Guard Research and Development Center this summer. At right, the technology evaluation will also include a SailDrone, shown here during a project with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Ocean Climate Stations.
Just passing this new release along, in view of possible future significance and unusual nature. More info here.
News Release U.S. Coast Guard 14th District Hawaii and the Pacific
Coast Guard will begin testing unmanned surface vehicles off Hawaii HONOLULU — The U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center, in partnership with local Coast Guard units, will be conducting test and evaluation of unmanned surface vehicles off the south shore of Oahu from October 7th through November 5th.
The tests will focus on autonomous vessel systems from Saildrone and Spatial Integration Systems, in addition to a USCG owned autonomous research vessel made by Metal Shark.
This evaluation will examine each vessels’ ability to provide persistent maritime domain awareness, especially in remote areas of the oceans. While potentially applicable to many Coast Guard missions, there is potential these technologies will help enable the Coast Guard to better protect critical natural living marine resources from Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing and other illicit activities.
Chuck Hill's CG Blog 
I think NOAA has been using Saildrone technology for some years and their vessels have crossed oceans. Interesting technology. I like them
https://www.saildrone.com/
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A bit more on this effort here: https://www.dcms.uscg.mil/Our-Organization/Assistant-Commandant-for-Acquisitions-CG-9/Newsroom/Latest-Acquisition-News/Article/2382464/rdc-launches-low-cost-maritime-domain-awareness-pilot-study/
A follow up with more information, but no evaluation of the success of using these systems. https://www.bairdmaritime.com/work-boat-world/specialised-fields/unmanned-craft-non-naval/feature-us-coast-guard-launches-low-cost-maritime-domain-awareness-study/
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