Saronic Could Build Us a Robot Navy

By Rich Smith – Apr 20, 2026 at 6:06AM ESTKey PointsSaronic builds robot warships for the U.S. Navy -- and won a $392 million contract last year.Saronic needs even more money though, and so raised $1.75 billion in private funding last month.Who's who in building a new robot navy for the U.S.? Over the years, I've highlighted a handful of usual suspects, from Leidos (LDOS 0.83%) -- builder of the first autonomous Sea Hunter robotic trimaran -- to L3Harris (LHX 0.87%), chosen to build the next generation of autonomous warships, to more traditional military shipbuilders such as General Dynamics (GD +0.36%) and Huntington Ingalls (HII 0.40%), which have also tried to horn in on the robotic warship game. All of the companies named so far are publicly traded defense stocks. For the time being, buying them is the best and easiest way for you to invest in robotic warships as a concept -- but is there an even purer-play way to do this? Maybe. Eventually. Image source: Saronic. Get to know Saronic I want to introduce you to Saronic, a privately owned defense company founded by former Navy SEAL and DEVGRU operator Dino Mavrookas, that specializes almost exclusively in robotic warships. We haven't talked a lot about Saronic before, but the name is appearing more and more often in the defense press lately. Saronic builds warships -- uncrewed, autonomous, long-endurance robotic vessels ranging from 24-foot Corsair speedboats to 40-foot Mirage vessels to the 180-foot Marauder, which can carry as many as four 40-foot trailer-sized rocket launching systems boasting a total of 16 cruise missiles. The company aims to use its new funding to accelerate and scale production, build more and bigger warships, and "reshape the entire shipbuilding industry" in the process. It's already winning Navy contracts, including a December award to deliver an undisclosed number of Corsairs for $392 million. The company immediately announced it will pour almost the entirety of this award into expanding production capacity at its Franklin, Louisiana, shipyard, investing $300 million. Last month, Saronic broke into the big time with news that the defense company has raised $1.75 billion in private financing from big-name venture capital firms such as Advent International, Andreessen Horowitz, and Franklin Templeton. As reported on defense news website Tectonic, this latest round of financing values privately held Saronic at $9.25 billion. Much of the investment will go into the company's biggest boats. Two Marauders are already under construction, for example, and Saronic intends to scale production to 20 such big vessels annually by next year. To support the upgrade, the company is building an entirely new shipyard, called Port Alpha, to supplement its existing Louisiana yard. Louisiana is already capable of building 1,000 Corsairs annually and is upgrading to produce 2,000. What's next for investors Saronic has floated no plans yet for an IPO -- but there are rumors. The company's shares may be available for private trading on certain markets for such investments, such as Forge Global or the Nasdaq Private Market. At $9 billion in market cap and counting, there's clearly a demand for the shares. And in the current market, an IPO may not be too far away.Read NextApr 20, 2026 •By Prosper Junior BakinyWhy Tesla Stock Could Double as Optimus Reaches Human-Level Proficiency This YearApr 20, 2026 •By Rich SmithJust 1 Space Stock to Buy in AprilApr 20, 2026 •By Courtney CarlsenPlug Power Is Still Under $4. Here's Whether Long-Term Investors Should Pounce.Apr 20, 2026 •By Adam SpataccoThe Pentagon's Push to Build an "Arsenal of Freedom" Is Turning Into a Multiyear Windfall for Defense ContractorsApr 20, 2026 •By Thomas Niel2 Space Stocks That Are Quietly Becoming Some of the Market's Best OpportunitiesApr 19, 2026 •By Lawrence NgaIs Tesla Stock a Buy in the Second Quarter of 2026?About the AuthorRich Smith is a contributing Motley Fool defense and stock market analyst covering publicly traded and emerging companies in defense, space, aerospace, and other sectors. Prior to The Motley Fool, Rich practiced international corporate law for Clifford Chance in Russia, and for the Russian-Ukrainian Legal Group in Moscow, Kyiv, and Washington, D.C. He holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the College of William & Mary, a law degree from the University of Baltimore, and a language certification from the International Institute of Russian Language & Culture in Tver, Russian Federation. The Globe and Mail once featured him as “one of the best stock pickers since 2009.”TMFDittyX@RichSmithFoolStocks MentionedLeidosNYSE: LDOS$155.18(-0.82%)-$1.29*Average returns of all recommendations since inception. Cost basis and return based on previous market day close.