Saronic Invests $300M in Louisiana Shipyard for Autonomous Vessels
Defense tech firm Saronic announced a $300 million investment to revamp a Louisiana shipyard into a cutting-edge autonomous vessel manufacturing facility, marking a significant expansion of U.S. maritime production capabilities. The Texas-based company broke ground on the project in November 2025 at the former Gulf Craft shipyard in Franklin, Louisiana, approximately 100 miles south of Baton Rouge.
The expansion will add more than 300,000 square feet of new production capacity, with construction slated for completion by year-end 2026 and full operational deployment in early 2027. Saronic CEO Dino Mavrookas emphasized the strategic importance: “Our expanded shipyard will enable us to deliver autonomous ships at unprecedented speed and scale while creating 1,500 high-quality jobs across Louisiana.”
Saronic acquired Gulf Craft earlier this year specifically to establish production capabilities for its 150-foot Marauder autonomous surface vessels. The company is currently constructing two prototype Marauders in Louisiana, with the first expected to launch by year-end 2025.
Founded in 2022, Saronic has aggressively pursued contracts within the U.S. Navy’s expanding unmanned and autonomous surface vessel portfolio, developing multiple platforms with varying size and payload capacities. The Louisiana facility represents the company’s first major manufacturing hub, though executives remain guarded about the location of Port Alpha, their proposed “largest and most advanced shipyard in the U.S. designed to produce large autonomous ships,” first announced publicly in February 2025.
This investment reflects broader U.S. military emphasis on autonomous maritime systems for modern naval operations. The expansion addresses critical domestic shipbuilding capacity gaps while positioning Saronic as a key player in next-generation naval technology. The project is expected to generate substantial regional economic benefits through skilled job creation and supply chain development, reinforcing Louisiana’s strategic importance in American defense manufacturing.
Source ID: SRCE-2025-1764792286504-1128