surveillance and reconnaissance.
“ At any one time, a Seaglider in the defense arsenal can conduct all of these missions and conduct them at high speed with extended range and low signature,” he says.“ Its operational profile is below radar but above sonar, so it really is nearly invisible to standard detection.”
In 2024, the company opened a second office in Washington, D. C., to support its defense and certification efforts. As a maritime vessel, the Seaglider will be regulated and certified by the U. S. Coast Guard with technical input from the Federal Aviation Administration. Seaglider operators are expected to train in Rhode Island and will be credentialed mariners but will not require a pilot’ s license.
U. S. Senator Jack Reed, who serves as ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, says the potential for military application is huge, particularly in the Indo-Pacific. In addition to its electric, crewed model, the company is developing autonomous models for military use as well as a hybrid version capable of traveling 1,400 nautical miles, or the distance from Okinawa to Guam.
“ I think what you’ re going to see with the focus on the Pacific is the need for those types of aircraft that can land on the water and go from island to island,” Reed says.
He points out it’ s the most recent in a long history of military technology to come out of Quonset.
“ That’ s the result, I think, of a lot of investment by the federal government over the years,” he says.“ I’ ve been involved in about $ 600 million of investment to make Quonset Point really a destination. And fortunately, the folks from REGENT found that destination.”
ON JAN. 27 OF THIS YEAR, GOVERNOR DAN MC KEE, REGENT leadership, the state’ s federal delegation and other public and private officials gathered to break ground on the company’ s new, 255,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. The facility, slated to open in Quonset next year, is expected to create between 200 and 300 jobs and represents another $ 4 million in state incentives.
“ There’ s a great deal of innovation [ in Quonset ],” McKee says.“ The synergy of that innovation has been important to REGENT. Where they’ re attracting engineers and good paying jobs into a place where there’ s a number of other businesses doing the same thing.”
REGENT is part of a growing wave of ocean-dependent business ventures referred to by economists and public officials as the blue economy. According to Grow Blue, a coalition of local businesses and agencies geared toward marine economic development, Rhode Island’ s blue economy was estimated at $ 5.2 billion and 36,500 jobs in 2023 and is projected to grow by 54,000 jobs in the next decade. This includes fisheries and recreation as well as growing industries like aquaculture, marine trades and defense.
For Anthony Marchese, dean of the University of Rhode Island’ s College of Engineering, the state’ s growing role as a hub for ocean technology presents an exciting prospect for researchers and graduates. Companies like Ørsted, Anduril, Vatn Systems and Flux Marine are growing their presence in Quonset and Bristol even as the state invests $ 145 million to transform the URI Bay Campus into a center for innovation. Meanwhile, the longtime presence of General Dynamics Electric Boat and Newport’ s Naval Undersea
Warfare Center anchor the state’ s defense technology sector.
“ We would like to see the state of Rhode Island become the Silicon Valley for ocean technology,” Marchese says.“ My hope is ten years from now when you think of the ocean economy, this is sort of the hub of that activity.”
For REGENT, building a Seaglider industry from the ground up requires patience. Like Electric Boat, the company has partnered with SkillsRI and the New England Institute of Technology to provide future training opportunities for its manufacturing workforce. Amy Grzybowski, NEIT’ s vice president of workforce development and community relations, says the school is well-equipped to create pathways in welding, machining, engineering and any other skills REGENT employees need.
“ As we figure out what those short-term skill sets are, we are ready and willing to create those programs,” she says.
Thalheimer also names the state’ s housing and health care shortages as challenges in recruiting workers to Rhode Island. Early on, he says, it was difficult to convince employees to relocate, but that sentiment is changing as word gets out about the state’ s ocean technology“ renaissance.”
“ We go to conferences now and people say,‘ There’ s something going on in Rhode Island right now, isn’ t there?’ Rhode Island is on the mind of investors and other companies in the space,” he says.
It’ s not lost on REGENT’ s founders that their design is only the latest innovative craft launched on Narragansett Bay. Prior to its relocation to Quonset, the company stored its prototype between sea trials in space leased from Bristol’ s Herreshoff Marine Museum, on the site of the former Herreshoff Manufacturing Company. Next to their carbon-fiber Seaglider was a half-restored wooden sailboat that was, in its time, the greatest marine technology of the day.
“ There’ s a lot of history of innovation here,” Thalheimer says.“ It’ s cool to be a part of that history.”
WITH THE DAY’ S TESTING COMPLETE IN QUONSET, a crane lifts the Seaglider from the water and stores it in an oceanside hangar for future tests. On the docks, Thalheimer and Klinker remove their helmets while reporters batter them with questions about the timeline ahead. The company has set an aggressive schedule for future milestones, beginning with the full-scale Seaglider’ s first flight on Narragansett Bay this fall. The first delivery of commercial craft has been promised for 2027, and by 2031, the company expects to manufacture more than 100 Seagliders each year between Quonset and a second facility planned for Abu Dhabi that will serve the international market. In the meantime, plans have already been announced for the company’ s second full-scale model, the 100-passenger Monarch Seaglider, available by the end of this decade.
For the founders’ families, the journey has been all-consuming, an exhilarating and exhausting ride toward an electric future. Lindsey recalls early days at the apartment in Winchester, when she and Brittany would play mock investors and tear their partners’ pitches to shreds, only to have the pair lock themselves in a room to rewrite the script. She envisions a day not too far in the future when she and Billy can get away to Nantucket, a favorite spot, and enjoy a brief rest from the job that has shaped their lives for the past five years.
The trip, she hopes, will be by Seaglider. 🆁
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