Compass Points - Marauder
New autonomous ship.
Compass Points - Marauder
New autonomous ship.
April 25, 2025
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Saronic Technologies says it can solve the staffing shortage of mariners by getting rid of mariners!
The Navy and Marine Corps ARG-MEU is the tip of the spear for US global crisis response. As important as the tip is, the tip gets its power from the whole spear. In the same way the real power of the forward deployed Amphibious Ready Group - Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) is from the full range of combined arms units, equipment, and capabilities that can quickly augment, exhance, and reinforce the small MEU.
It will take more Navy amphibious ships to get more ARG-MEUs on the world's oceans, but it will take more logistics prepostioning ships to make sure the follow-on supplies and equipment are on ships nearby.
The Military Sealift Command runs the prepositioning ship program.
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Our Prepositioning (PM3) program is an essential element in the U.S. military's readiness strategy. Afloat prepositioning strategically places military equipment and supplies aboard ships located in key ocean areas to ensure rapid availability during a major theater war, a humanitarian operation or other contingency. MSC's seventeen prepositioning ships support the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Defense Logistics Agency.
Prepositioning ships provide quick and efficient movement of military gear between operating areas without reliance on other nations' transportation networks. These ships give U.S. regional combatant commanders the assurance that they will have what they need to quickly respond in a crisis - anywhere, anytime. During a contingency, troops are flown into a theater of operations to rapidly employ the cargo from these ships.
-- Military Sealift Command
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Unfortunately, the prepositioning ship squadrons have been allowed to decline over the years. The problem is not just the number of prepositioning ships, it is also the shortage of civilian mariners to operate the ships.
The MSC has faced such a shortage of mariners that the command had to sideline 17 ships due to lack of mariners. In recent months the mariners shortage as started to improve.
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Achieving a 95 percent manning fill rate for tasking ships and reducing overdue relief are two of Military Sealift Command’s top goals, Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck announced Thursday.
By September, the component command wants to get the overdue relief down from seven days to zero and hit the 95 percent fill rate, Sobeck highlighted in his “Message to Force.”
MSC’s workforce initiative for the year includes achieving a 70 percent manning fill rate for ships in maintenance by December, he added.
The command has struggled with manning issues, as USNI News reported in November, causing it to sideline 17 ships to ease the stress on civilian mariners.
-- USNI News
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Saronic Technologies says it can help with the shortage of needed mariners by getting rid of mariners.
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Texas-based US firm Saronic Technologies has unveiled a 150-foot medium unmanned surface vessel (MUSV) known as Marauder.
The announcement came as the company announced the acquisition of Gulf Craft, a Louisiana-based shipbuilder, to accelerate its growth into autonomous shipbuilding.
Through this acquisition, Saronic said it has gained a strategically located shipyard on the Gulf Coast that will serve as the prototyping and production hub for its MUSV fleet.
Marauder MUSV
Marauder MUSV is purpose-built to support various missions for the U.S., its allies, and commercial customers.
With a payload capacity of 40 metric tons, the autonomous ship is designed to travel up to 3,500 nautical miles or loiter for 30+ days, depending on mission requirements, Saronic said in a press release.
Meet the newest member of Saronic’s family of Autonomous Surface Vessels. Bayou-born. Mission-ready. Marauder.
At 150-feet, Marauder is a medium unmanned surface vessel (MUSV) that will integrate the same proven autonomy stack used across Saronic’s existing ASVs.
-- Interesting Engineering
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More Navy amphibious ships with sailors, as well as more prepositioning ships with mariners, and more autonomous logistic ships without either one - it will take all three to get more Marine MAGTFs out on the world's oceans, ready to arrive at any challenge to deter, assist, and fight.
Compass Points salutes all those working to shift the focus of the Marine Corps back to what the Nation needs most, a global, combined arms, 9-1-1, crisis response force of Marines.
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Military Sealift Command
Prepositioning (PM3)
Afloat prepositioning strategically places military equipment and supplies aboard ships located in key ocean areas to ensure rapid availability during a major theater war, a humanitarian operation or other contingency.
https://www.msc.usff.navy.mil/Ships/Prepositioning-PM3/
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USNI News - 02/07/2025
Navy Wants 95 Percent Manning Fill Rate for Civilian Mariners by September
By John Grady
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Interesting Engineering - 04/17/2025
US firm unveils 150-foot monster drone ship with 90,000-pound payload, 4,000-mile range
The autonomous ship is designed to travel up to 3,500 nautical miles or loiter for 30+ days, depending on mission requirements.
By Kapil Kajal
https://interestingengineering.com/military/150-foot-monster-drone-ship
Mariner shortage? You might notice workforce shortages across the nation in anything that approximates work that is not a desk,
and keyboard - preferably from home. Short nurses, short 60,000 truck drivers, welders, roofers, mechanics, etc. The problem is cultural.
All sorts of companies hire PR and marketing people to talk about their plans most of which are a mirage until the metal bending starts.
I too am glad this long neglected need is getting some visibility and a bit of traction.
If robot ships were so easy why isn’t every oil tanker on earth a robot? Why are they not delivering cars from Japan to California? Seems the easiest thing to turn into a robot would be freight trains. Yet to see one.
Seems the Reapers are having a hard time over Yemen.
Finally, where will the ship’s robot Captains operate from? That facility is the high value target.
After those question I must concede and say full speed ahead. We must get a terrible sense of urgency. Do it. Do it now.
I'd wait to sit up and pay attention, with respect to Saronic. They haven't unveiled anything but a computer rendering of a concept with respect to the Marauder. They've done some small experimentation with the Navy, and apparently have a decent autonomy backend for their small craft. Let them use their VC capital to unveil something large and real first. Everybody and their mom has computer renderings of advanced, space age concepts. Notable are the exceptions that lean into full scale functioning prototypes and/or production of similar vehicles. This is why I like Anduril - they are long on showing more metal and less rendered pixels.
Otherwise, progress, any progress on Maritime support is good news. Thank you, Compass Points.