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 (REGENT, North Kingstown, R.I., U.S.), composites-intensive seaglider vessel developer and manufacturer, has announced the creation of REGENT Defense and unveiled a new product line of maritime craft designed for military applications. Complementing REGENT’s $10 billion commercial backlog, the company will manufacture REGENT Defense seaglider vessels at its headquarters in Rhode Island.

REGENT’s hydrofoiling wing-in-ground-effect (WIG) seaglider design offers a combination of high-speed, long-range and low-signature capabilities — all at significantly reduced costs compared to legacy transportations solutions, the company reports. These advantages directly address the “tyranny of distance” often seen in littoral operations, where resupply and transport across vast ocean stretches has historically been difficult.

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As a Type A WIG craft, seaglider vessels operate exclusively over water within a wingspan of the water’s surface, benefitting from the aerodynamic efficiencies of ground effect and remaining above sonar and below radar. This highly efficient, agile and low-signature design enables the craft to service a wide range of maritime defense missions, including:

• Troop and supply logistics
• Medical evacuation  (medevac) and search and rescue
• Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR)
• Launched effects, including deployment of uncrewed systems from the seaglider vessel.

“We’re building platforms engineered for maritime defense operations in contested and logistically complex maritime environments,” says Tom Huntley, general manager of REGENT Defense. 

In addition to a defense version of REGENT’s commercial all-electric, crewed Viceroy model, REGENT Defense is creating a product line of seaglider vessels that include a fully autonomous Viceroy vessel as well as hybrid versions, and a quarter-scale autonomous model called Squire.

The Viceroy seaglider has a payload of 3,500 pounds and can travel at speeds up to 160 knots (180 miles per hour) for routes up to 160 nautical miles (180 miles) in the all-electric model and up to 1,400 nautical miles (1,600 miles) in the hybrid model. The autonomous hybrid Squire seaglider vessel has a payload of 50 pounds and can travel at speeds of up to 70 knots (80 miles per hour) for routes more than 100 nautical miles (115 miles).

REGENT is a trusted partner of the U.S. Marine Corps, which continues to advance its strategic shift toward distributed maritime operations. In March 2025, REGENT announced a $10 million expanded collaboration with the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab through the second phase of a contract agreement to validate seaglider use cases across logistics, ISR, medevac, launched effects and other mission-critical areas.

In addition to its work with the Marine Corps, REGENT has formalized development relationships with U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) and the U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center, supporting innovation in agile, next-generation maritime mobility.