A Saildrone Voyager is pictured on Lake Erie, as part of a new deployment with the Coast Guard. in the Great Lakes and North Atlantic. (Saildrone) You can see the radar and what is probably an electro-optic sensor all powered by solar cells and batteries.

Breaking Defense reports,

The Coast Guard is deploying more than a dozen Saildrone Voyagerunmanned surface vessels (USVs) to the Great Lakes and the North Atlantic region in an effort to bolster maritime domain awareness.

The Voyager is equipped to conduct persistent coastal surveillance and nearshore mapping missions while remaining at sea for roughly 100 days at a time, according to the unmanned maritime systems manufacturer. In the Great Lakes, the unmanned vessels will support border security operations through monitoring and flagging suspicious activity, while in the North Atlantic,the vessels will assist Coast Guard efforts countering illegal fishing.

While these are floating assets their role is surveillance so they are more a supplement to our fixed wing aircraft than a replacement for ships. They are particularly appropriate for maintaining persistent surveillance of a relatively small area of interest.

GULF OF AQABA (Feb. 13, 2022) The U.S. Coast Guard Sentinel-class cutter USCGC Glen Harris (WPC 1144) sails near a U.S sail drone explorer during the International Maritime Exercise/Cutlass Express (IMX) 2022, Feb. 13, 2022. IMX/CE 2022 is the largest multinational training event in the Middle East, involving more than 60 nations and international organizations committed to enhancing partnerships and interoperability to strengthen maritime security and stability. (U.S. Army photo by Cpl. DeAndre Dawkins)

• “U.S., U.K. Navies Conduct Unmanned Exercise in Arabian Gulf” –Seapower / and the Coast Guard is There, Oct.2022

It appears the Coast Guard has benefited from working with both 5th Fleet and 4th Fleet, as they have pioneered use of USVs in addition to the Coast Guard’s independent development.

• “Operation Southern Spear: Latest Development in Operationalizing Robotic and Autonomous Systems” –4th Fleet, Jan. 2025
• “Navy’s 4th Fleet sets sights on command center upgrades for drone ops” –Defense Scoop, Jan. 2024
• “C4F’s Hybrid Fleet Completes Target Detection Test” –4th Fleet, Nov. 2023
• Saildrones Set Sail in Support of U.S. 4th Fleet’s Operation Windward Stack” –4th Fleet, Sep. 2023
• 
• “Coast Guard and Navy commands formalize support for Research and Development Center autonomous vessels” –CG-9, Jan. 2023
• “Saildrone Showcased Its USVs At Sea Air Space 2021 For The First Time” –Naval News, Aug. 2021
• “RDC concludes Low Cost Maritime Domain Awareness Pilot Study” –CG-9, Dec. 2020
• Coast Guard will begin testing unmanned surface vehicles off Hawaii, Oct.2020

Thanks to jmoskalik who passed along this report in a comment on previous post. I thought it was important enough to justify separate post.