You have undoubtedly heard about the unmanned air drones used by the military and intelligence organizations. Enter the unmanned water drone, introduced by Morrelli & Melvin Design & Engineering. They are perhaps most famous for multihull racing designs such as PlayStation and Stars and Stripes, but they also make industrial multis for everything from tourism to maintenance of sea windmills (the mast parks nicely between the hulls). The concept of a water drone incorporates the ability for automated missions over long periods of time. This makes sense, given the limited communications capability at sea.

The HarborWing X1 is a special purpose security and military vehicle used to patrol harbors, inland waterways and open ocean using only wind power. The batteries and computers on board can operate for up to 3 months at a time without human intervention.

I do not see any missile tubes or gun turrets but surely this is in the works, given the record set by other drones in service. The rigid sails might make it an easy target. Do they fold or drop for stealth? Can it deploy mines or detect them?

This also makes me wonder about sea rescue missions. Could a drone be developed for search and rescue in extreme conditions? Given the ultra-high resolution and infrared imaging technology, coupled with satellite communication, is a submersible drone that could locate and carry a small crew to safety the best answer for emergency response at sea?