Lockheed Martin is dipping a toe in the sea of electric aircraft offerings with “major investment” in the ground effect sea skimming Regent Seaglider. The unusual application has gathered a reported 400 orders, mostly from airlines that have a lot of short island-hopping routes. But Lockheed Martin, one of the world’s largest defense contractors, sees a new role for the 12-seat machine. As the U.S. intensifies efforts to curb China’s ambitions in the Pacific, the market may be ripe for a sea skimming assault vehicle.
“We see defense strategy evolving toward an island-hopping force featuring agile, affordable, and distributed craft,” Regent founder and CEO Billy Thalheimer said in a news release. “This investment is a strong signal that seagliders can fill this immediate need in the high-priority missions faced by our Department of Defense. Lockheed Martin’s expertise and resources will be invaluable as we work together to adapt seagliders for defense use cases that are critically important to national security.”
