Saronic’s 24-foot Corsair drone boats have stayed in Panama since an exercise ended in mid-August, and now patrol for drug traffickers with Panama’s National Aeronaval Service. The U.S. Navy brought them, and the Pentagon described the mission on 9 October.
The Corsair is an autonomous boat. Saronic says each can carry 1,000 pounds more than 1,000 nautical miles, at over 35 knots. After Exercise Panamax 2026, U.S. Southern Command and the U.S. embassy arranged with Panama’s Ministry of Security to keep the boats.
“The Corsairs are providing additional patrol craft,” said Marine Corps Col. Ian Fletcher. He commands Southcom’s Autonomous Warfare Command, which the command set up in April to use uncrewed systems against cartels and in disaster relief.
What the boats do
Each Corsair carries radar and cameras, which Fletcher said give it much of the detection of a crewed patrol boat. The boats watch a wide stretch of water, and Panama’s crewed boats and aircraft go after what they flag. The Pentagon says they add to Panama’s forces rather than replace them.
From Oman to the canal
The same type of boat pulled two downed Army Apache pilots out of the water off Oman in June. A Corsair run by the Navy’s Task Force 59 reached them within about two hours, U.S. Central Command said.
Saronic raised $1.75 billion in March at a valuation of $9.25 billion. Fletcher said the Panama mission lets Southcom examine how autonomous craft could work “in the canal environment”.
