Red Cat (RCAT) Goes to Sea
Red Cat (RCAT) may be best known for its Black Widow military drone, but management wants investors watching something much bigger:
Autonomous boats.
At this week's Piper Sandler Growth Frontiers Conference, CEO Jeff Thompson highlighted Red Cat's growing uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) business and pointed to potential demand across INDOPACOM, the Middle East and South America.
Red Cat says it now has 100,000+ square feet of manufacturing space in Valdosta, Georgia dedicated to its Blue Ops maritime business.
Its flagship Variant 7 is a 28-foot autonomous vessel designed as a modular platform capable of carrying different mission systems—including drones, radar, interceptors, missiles and other payloads.
Management also disclosed that the Navy recently visited the Valdosta facility to evaluate whether Red Cat could meet production requirements if it receives a significant order.
The same forces reshaping warfare in the air may be moving onto the water:
Lower-cost + autonomous + distributed + expendable systems
Instead of relying exclusively on a small number of expensive crewed ships, autonomous vessels could allow militaries to deploy larger numbers of smaller systems for surveillance, logistics, defense and strike missions.
Red Cat is positioning itself across both sides:
AIR: Black Widow + FPV drones
SEA: Variant 7 + additional USVs
NEXT: Management says it is also evaluating underwater autonomous systems.
The opportunity is interesting, but it's still early.
Watch the sales coming out of the USV division.
Comments