BUILT IN THE NETHERLANDS 🇳🇱 · DEPLOYED IN UKRAINE 🇺🇦
FOUNDED BY STICHTING PROTECT UKRAINE

AUTONOMOUS
MARITIME
FORCE.

High-performance unmanned surface vehicles engineered for littoral defense and long-range logistics. Built in conflict. Refined for global security.

For navies & defenceRequest Capability Brief →For supportersSupport the mission 🇺🇦 →
Aquadrone River Whale USV technical orthographic drawing

[ ACTIVE_DUTY ]

River Whale

50HP / STEERING CONTROL
THERMAL + DAY OPTICS
River Whale USV operating in choppy water

Tactical agile interceptor. Gas and steering control with thermal + day cameras, Starlink and short-range RF. Currently deployed with the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

  • Propulsion50HP outboard, gas
  • OpticsThermal + day camera
  • ControlStarlink + short-range RF
  • StatusField operational

[ IN DEVELOPMENT ]

Sea Whale

9M HULL / 1.2T PAYLOAD
45+ KN / 24+ HR · TARGETS
Sea Whale modular unmanned surface vehicle underway at sea

250hp outboard modular platform. Semi-V hull, deck rail system for ISR, security, and support payloads. Autonomous or remotely operated.

  • Hull9.0 m semi-V
  • PayloadUp to 1.2 t
  • Endurance24+ hours
  • StatusIn development
01

Control Stack

Gas + steering control with low-latency teleoperation. Tested in contested EW environments.

02

Optics

Thermal and day camera arrays for round-the-clock target identification and navigation.

03

Hybrid Comms

Starlink primary link with short-range RF fallback. Mission continues when one path degrades.

Press & Recognition

Covered by national press. Recognised by the Dutch engineering community.

From NOS national news to the Prins Friso Ingenieursprijs — the Netherlands' Engineer of the Year award — the work behind Aquadrone has been documented across Dutch broadcast, print, and trade press.

  • NOS
  • BNR Nieuwsradio
  • KIVI
  • De Ingenieur
  • Financieel Dagblad
  • Hart van Nederland
  • TU Eindhoven
  • Land+Water
  • Duurzaam Ondernemen
Background on the founder & team →
Mission & Vision

Save lives in Ukraine. Build sovereign drone-technology and production capability in the Netherlands and Europe. Supporting Ukraine and building European capability are not two missions — they are the same mission.

Read the full mission →
Aquadrone team handing over River Whale USVs to a Ukrainian naval unit on the southern coast
🇳🇱 → 🇺🇦
HANDOVER · SOUTHERN UKRAINE · 2025

The Origin

Stichting Protect Ukraine
Founded byStichting Protect Ukraine

Born in Ukraine. Built for allied navies. Aquadrone was started as a volunteer engineering project to supply USVs to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. We are now scaling and professionalising it — same hardware, industrial standards, available to allied operators.

River Whale & Sea Whale — named by the Ukrainian crews operating them.

Read the concept →Support this project 🇺🇦 →

Defense Procurement

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Direct line to engineering