San Diego-based defense startup Seasats is opening a new headquarters in Clairemont and ramping up hiring as demand for its autonomous sea vessels grows from U.S. Navy and intelligence contracts totaling $100 million — making it one of the fastest-growing defense technology companies in the region.

What Seasats Builds

The company’s 12-foot autonomous skiff, the Lightfish, can track Chinese ghost fleets, monitor hurricanes, signal submarines, spot smugglers, and locate illegal fishing operations. The vessels listen for acoustic messages underwater and translate that data into radio signals beamed to satellites and back to commanders on shore. CEO Mike Flanigan explained the technology’s fundamental value: “Radio waves don’t go through water. Submarines or underwater robots can’t talk to the internet, so you have to have something right at the surface of the ocean,” per the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Milestone Crossing

Last month, a Lightfish vessel completed the first autonomous crossing of the Taiwan Strait — a contested waterway separating Taiwan and mainland China. Seasats said the vessel encountered “multiple Chinese warships” allegedly operating within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity. Chief of Staff Declan Kerwin said long-range autonomous vessels “can provide maritime awareness where shore-based radars can’t reach.” The company tests and demonstrates its boats off the San Diego coast and in Navy exercises in Coronado.

Expansion Plans

Since 2020, Seasats has raised $40 million from investors and collected $100 million in defense contracts. The new headquarters at 5965 Santa Fe St. will house 70 employees across two buildings totaling more than 61,000 square feet, opening fully in August. The facility will transform a cramped workshop into a true production line, increasing output from roughly a boat a week to a boat a day. Seasats is hiring 12 new positions in software, operations, and electronics, with salaries ranging from $75,000 for a field service representative to $275,000 for a head of software. Beyond military applications, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and NOAA have also used the craft for climate science research and harmful algal bloom forecasting. The company’s growth reflects San Diego’s emergence as a hub for defense technology startups leveraging the region’s deep military and maritime expertise, proximity to Naval Base San Diego, and access to a skilled engineering workforce trained at local universities.

Flanigan noted the company’s success in San Diego is no accident. “We did a demo, and then the Navy was like, ‘That works, we’re gonna buy them,'” he said of the company’s early traction with military customers.