PROGRAMS / SURFACE VESSELS / SLS-104HULL 3 IN BUILD
SLS-104 · USV
Riptide
High-speed interceptor USV. The sprinter to Slackwater's marathoner. A planing-hull interceptor built to close, shadow, and non-kinetically interdict surface contacts at better than forty knots.
Riptide trades endurance for burst speed and maneuverability. The planing hull is optimized for sea-state 3 intercept runs, with cued pursuit and station-keeping behaviors tuned into the common Helmsman autonomy stack.
Interdiction options are non-kinetic by design — shouldering, blocking, and hailing payloads — and the vehicle launches and recovers rapidly from pier or mother-ship cradle. Aperture EO/IR has completed fit-checks on the mast, giving Riptide passive eyes at speed.
Hull #3 is in fabrication through spring 2026.