HIs Autonomous USV Ran Into Chinese Warships in the Taiwan Strait: Mike Flanigan

Mike Flanigan is co-founder and CEO of Seasats, a San Diego-based company building long-range autonomous surface vessels for commercial and defense missions. This is his second time on Drone Wars — and he came back with stories.We get into how Seasats recently sailed a Lightfish autonomous boat through the Taiwan Strait and found themselves tracking Chinese Navy warships along the way. Mike breaks down the asymmetry: a $100M+ corvette with 70+ sailors versus a sub-$1M boat operated remotely from San Diego. We also cover the state of the USV industry, the debate over large vs. small autonomous vessels, operating in the Indo-Pacific, their joint Navy/Marine Corps APFIT contract win, and how Seasats is using AI to cut a six-hour quality check down to 20 minutes.Topics:Why San Diego is becoming the maritime autonomy capital of the U.S.Lightfish, Quickfish, Heavyfish — Seasats' product lineupTaiwan Strait transit & Chinese Navy encounterThe real numbers behind U.S. USV productionLarge unmanned surface vessels: hype or hope?Mines in the Strait of HormuzAPFIT: joint Navy & Marine Corps contract winAI in physical manufacturingAbout Drone WarsThe Drone Wars Podcast serves the warfighters, builders and innovators who all share a common goal: get the best tech into the hands of those on the frontlines. Dan Magy, Co-Founder and CEO of Firestorm Labs, explores all things defense and geopolitics with experts in the industry.