This AI Sea Drone Could Destroy A Submarine?

The U.S. Navy dominated in World War II, not because we had the most advanced ships, but because our industrial capacity was unmatched. When we lost a ship in battle, we could instantly replace it with two or three new ones. Our enemies couldn't keep pace. But today, our shipbuilding is a shell of its former self. In 1943, we built over 18,000 ships. Last year, we built eight (and retired 12). China, on the other hand, is producing hundreds of ships and now boasts 250 times the U.S. shipbuilding capacity!

How can the U.S. Navy maintain deterrence? One answer is autonomous surface vehicles (ASVs) and harnessing new possibilities in AI to field and simultaneously coordinate hundreds or thousands of unmanned vessels. That's why Dino Mavrookas and his team are building Saronic Technologies — the leading ASV manufacturer. Saronic is the only company engineering the hardware, software, and AI to create modular platforms that can be produced economically at scale. They currently offer three classes of vehicles that can be fitted with various sensors and weapons (including the possibility of torpedoes!).

Dino believes the push into unmanned, attritable systems is our generation's space race. He served 11 years as a Navy SEAL with eight combat tours before working as a private equity technology investor. He partnered with 8VC through its Build program to launch Saronic in 2022, and it has quickly become one of the fastest-growing defense technology companies. Saronic recently closed a $175 million Series B, making it the newest defense unicorn. Its advisors include former admirals and other naval leaders, and did we mention it's being built right here in Austin, Texas!

Joe Lonsdale is an American entrepreneur, investor & philanthropist. He has been a part of founding more than a dozen mission-driven companies, including Palantir, Addepar, OpenGov, Affinity, Epirus, Resilience Bio, and 8VC.


00:00 Episode Intro
01:30 Saronic's autonomous vessels
03:11 Lessons from a Navy SEAL
8:15 The origins of Saronic
10:31 State of the U.S. Navy
15:42 How AI is changing naval warfare
20:56 Can we put torpedoes on these?
24:25 Why build naval company in Texas?

[tomcarl]

So glad to see this happen! Although, simultaneously, I can’t help but think that maybe we should reduce our dependency on one island to produce 90% of our chips so that our economy isn’t hostage to the security of said island.

[MechAnonymous]

I'm the talent they need and I'm ready to relocate thank you for posting this

[lawrencelee]

Thank you Joe. You are doing a fantastic job.

[viccram]

I'm an older grunt, former business owner on the smaller side, never served but i thought to be very cool a bunch of you very smart builders in our economy working on making America better when you could be building a far more profitable product marketed to the world. Think it's cool even from an old guy, wish I was smart enough to be on this team. I'd take out the trash for stock. 😅 USA.

[InfoSopher]

What worries me most is that the scale of manufacturing determines the military capacity of a country, but is in turn dependent on civilian manufacturing. Meaning the scale and level of manufacturing in peacetime.

Putting it differently. The S.U. lost the competition against the West, because it focused on military manufacturing. And while that might make sense as a short to mid term deterent, in the long run, only an economy focused on outcompeting everyone else in the civilian space can keep the edge in the military area as well. It looks to me as if American manufacturing would be ever more focused on the military. (I don't actually know the statistics. But if the U.S. were competitve in the civilian space, arguably it would export more.) Just as the S.U.. Meaning that all the growth and scale effects of civilian manufacturing are missing.

This isn't meant as a critique on this company. Rather a general strategic observation.

[PatrickKukla]

You rock Joe! Wish the average pro US Joe Schmoe could invest along side you! DPO buddy

[darylmoore]

This is a superb presentation. Makes me proud to be an American

[RichardCroce]

If the vessel loses communication with base, is should self destruct after a certain time, it cannot get in the hands of our adversaries!!!

[beilkster]

Waiting for a percentage response that is anything other than 100

[Dreadwolf]

o glad to hear folks in the industry sayin gthese things! We cannot deter or defeat China sans manufacturing at scale! THIS is the thinking we need! Thank you sir!

[_PEPSISUCKS]

Would be great if these kinds of opportunities could also help regular Americans. Not just to people with 20-years computer scientist experience.

Not everyone is a member of the expert class.

[TraianoLiberatore]

Don't you realise that China has the same drone technology just in larger numbers?

[kmich]

Too optimistic, mate.
A talented team, no doubt. But Russia and China do too.
US puts 2 astronauts on a one way ticket to space, don't believe Russia and China could ever match that.

[Raz-Al-Raziz-eg]

Wishful thinking, just get us cheap electric cars dude, china will outproduce you and every other company you know of 😂😂😂