Saronic–Vigor Marine alliance targets development of new autonomous vessels

July 15, 2025, by Fatima Bahtić

Autonomous surface vessel provider Saronic Technologies and shipbuilding, shiprepair, and industrial service provider Vigor Marine have formed a strategic partnership focused on rapidly advancing the delivery of autonomous maritime capabilities and strengthening operational support for defense and commercial use.

Under the agreement, Vigor and Saronic will work closely to identify opportunities to advance the priorities of core US government and commercial maritime customers. Together, the partners are focused on accelerating innovation while expanding the industrial and operational support required for autonomy at scale.

“This partnership brings together two leaders in the maritime industry to collaboratively create a full lifecycle solution that can ensure our maritime customers are mission-ready today and into the future,” said Dino Mavrookas, Co-Founder and CEO of Saronic.

“Partnering with Saronic is a tremendous opportunity for Vigor Marine Group to harness our innovative spirit and long history in the marine fabrication and MRO markets to provide solutions for our customers in this rapidly changing maritime environment,” stated Francesco Valente, CEO of Vigor Marine Group.

“With this partnership, we are aligning our core strengths to advance autonomous maritime capabilities that meet the urgent and evolving needs of our defense and commercial customers.”

The companies noted that this partnership reflects a shared commitment to advance US maritime systems and shipbuilding in a way that is operationally effective, economically sustainable, and aligned with national security priorities.

“Exploring the combination of Saronic’s autonomy technologies and Vigor’s experience in marine vessel fabrication, subsystem integration, and MRO support enables us to find solutions to better support the warfighter,” said Mark Norris, Vice President of Vigor Marine Fabrication.

In April this year, Saronic announced the expansion of its family of autonomous surface vessels (ASVs) with the addition of two new models, Mirage and Cipher.