DARPA selects Saronic to support its Pulling Guard program

Austin, Texas-headquartered autonomous vessel developer Saronic Technologies reports that it it has been selected to support the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Pulling Guard program.

The objective of the Pulling Guard program is the development and demonstration of a semi-autonomous escort systems designed to enhance the survivability of unarmed logistics vessels. Saronic will participate in the program under Focus Area 2 (FA2), where it will focus on designing an autonomy-enabled, modular vessel to address maritime security challenges.

With over 75% of global trade transported by sea, commercial and military logistics vessels routinely transit predictable routes and strategic chokepoints, making them increasingly vulnerable to asymmetric threats, from piracy and terrorism in peacetime to hostile state actors during conflict.

Historically, the U.S. Navy has protected key transit routes by deploying high-end assets, such as guided missile destroyers or carrier strike groups. At the scale required today, however, this approach is increasingly unsustainable. The Pulling Guard program seeks to address this challenge by enabling a more scalable, distributed model for maritime protection, and one that takes advantage of the advances in low-cost commercial technologies in command and control (C2), autonomy, and sensing.

To meet these security challenges, DARPA’s Pulling Guard program aims to develop semi-autonomous overwatch and escort capabilities, collectively referred to as the Pulling Guard system. This system aims to provide a flexible, unmanned maritime platform capable of integrating existing sensors and effectors to provide protection and support for logistics vessels.

Leveraging its existing autonomy expertise, Saronic will work on the design and development of the Pulling Guard platform, focusing on the creation of a modular, autonomy-enabled vessel with standardized physical and digital interfaces to support integration with a variety of sensors and effectors, covering both commercial and defense uses.

With modularity at both the software and hardware level, the platform’s design should enable rapid iteration to address evolving threats and regulations. In alignment with DARPA’s iterative development model, Saronic will focus on contributing to a collaborative design cycle that matures capabilities from concept through delivery, enabling rapid integration, testing, and refinement.

Saronic says that its core strengths in rapid design, development, and production of advanced Autonomous Surface Vessels for critical maritime missions align closely with Pulling Guard’s goals. Saronic’s experience in scalable autonomy, modular system architectures, and maritime manufacturing positions the company to meaningfully advance maritime innovation in line with the program’s objectives.

Building on its work in both the commercial and defense markets, Saronic will also work to devise ttransition pathways that enable Pulling Guard capabilities to continue beyond the program, including concepts for “protection as a service” to support commercial shipping in peacetime and logistics operations during conflict.

“Saronic is honored to be selected for DARPA’s Pulling Guard program and proud to contribute to the agency’s storied legacy of advancing breakthrough technologies in support of national security,” said Rob Lehman, co-founder and chief commercial officer (CCO) at Saronic. “The aims of the program align with our mission to rapidly design and deploy autonomous maritime systems that fundamentally change how maritime security is delivered. We look forward to being a part of a program that could help unlock revolutionary advances in autonomous maritime operations while enabling a more resilient and adaptable approach to protecting critical sea lines of communication and commerce.”

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