First full-scale sea trial goes to plan says Regent co-founder

Deep Dive

by Yves Le Marquand

14 March 2025

The initial on-water trial of a full-scale sea glider prototype has been a success, according to Mike Klinker, co-founder and chief technical officer at Regent.

Speaking to Revolution.Aero, Klinker said the team is “looking forward” to continued testing through a multi-month campaign that plans to take the vessel – which is a full-scale prototype of Regent’s Viceroy seaglider – from floating on its hull to foiling on hydrofoils and then to flying in ground effect (about a wingspan from the surface of the water) by the middle of 2025.

After being christened Paladin in true maritime tradition, the full-scale prototype took to the waters of Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island last week. The first on-water tests of the 55ft long, 65ft wingspan prototype follow Regent’s quarter-scale seaglider tests conducted back in 2022.

“Developing the full-scale seaglider prototype involved addressing issues of scale and safety,” Klinker told us. “Scaling up from our quarter-scale prototype meant dealing with larger components, higher loads and a more complex supply chain — all while ensuring the vehicle could carry substantial weight and operate at high speeds.”

Klinker said the team had “high confidence” in the seaglider physics and operations from the quarter-scale prototype, but the full-scale version required a large step up in system architecture and redundancy to ensure safety.

“This meant implementing triple-redundant computers, quadruple-redundant power systems and other upgrades to meet our high bar for safety — It was an exciting challenge for our engineering team, but also viewed as table stakes before we brought people onboard,” he said.

Regent has made rapid progress to crewed tests having only been founded in 2020. Klinker puts some of that down to the quarter-scale prototype allowing the team to test and rapidly iterate design principles to ensure a simple, heavily automated operator interface. “So that the captain could focus on basic controls of left and right, and fast and slow,” he explained.

To support the demands of meeting its $9bn-plus order book for seagliders, Regent recently broke ground on its Seaglider Manufacturing Facility in Rhode Island, which is set to come online in 2026. The company also has plans to establish a production and aftermarket facility in the UAE through a joint venture with the country’s Strategic Development Fund (SDF).

“There is large commercial demand in the Eastern hemisphere, and our joint venture with SDF to bring manufacturing and aftermarket services in the UAE would enable us to meet this demand,” said Klinker.

When asked what the expected initial output for sea gliders will be from the Rhode Island base, Regent said it was not releasing those numbers at this time. Klinker also did not disclose if Regent has plan beyond the US and the UAE, but he did leave a sliver of hope there for those that would like to see such.

“Our focus now is on building our manufacturing capabilities in Rhode Island, and then the UAE. We look forward to applying those learnings as we scale in the future to fulfil our $9bn global backlog,” he noted.

The company is currently working with the US Coast Guard on its certification pathway, as well as maritime regulators in partnership with maritime classification society Lloyd’s Register. Klinker said more updates will be published on certification progress “soon”.

Regent has also been working to execute a contract with US Marine Corps Warfighting Lab (MCWL) to demonstrate seaglider technology for defence logistics operations. The agreement worth $4.75m was signed back in October 2023, and is set to culminate in a live technical demonstration of the full-scale prototype during a large-scale exercise hosted by the US Government. “Seagliders provide a low-signature, high-speed, low-cost transportation solution that will enable national security missions in maritime environments,” said Klinker.