Hanneke Weitering is a writer and editor with AIN covering advanced air mobility and new flight technologies. She became an aviation journalist and joined the AIN team in the summer of 2022 after reporting on spaceflight and astronomy for six years at Space.com. After earning a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, she moved to New York City to pursue a master’s degree in science, health, and environmental reporting at New York University&#039;s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. After spending several years in the Pacific Northwest, she has returned to the Knoxville area.

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Regent Craft has won $5 million in additional funding from the U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Lab to demonstrate its all-electric Viceroy seaglider for military missions, bringing the total value of its contract with the lab to $19.25 million. The North Kingstown, Rhode Island-based company announced the Phase IV extension on Wednesday.
According to Regent, the fourth phase includes six deliverables. They focus on demonstrating the full-scale Viceroy prototype in operationally relevant conditions and on integrating seagliders into military command-and-control systems, which govern how commanders assign, track, and coordinate assets. Regent did not specify the deliverables, where or when the demonstrations will take place, or whether Marines will operate the Viceroy themselves.
Under its first contract with the lab, worth $4.75 million, Regent established the technical feasibility of the seaglider concept, the company said. That work progressed from testing a quarter-scale prototype to the start of full-scale Viceroy sea trials in March 2025.
A follow-on agreement signed that month was worth $9.5 million. It funded demonstrations of the full-scale prototype for missions such as contested logistics and medical evacuation. In November 2025, Marines used the Viceroy to <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/defense/2025-11-17/us-marines-trial-regents-seaglider-rescue-missions">rehearse casualty evacuation missions</a>, such as a beach extraction and an open-water life raft rescue.
“What started as a feasibility question has become a real operational program, and that trajectory says a lot about where this technology is headed,” Regent co-founder and CEO Billy Thalheimer said.
Becky Russo, who leads defense mission integration at Regent, said the next phase aims to put the technology directly in the hands of warfighters. “We look forward to demonstrating this technology to the Marines so they can put it through its paces and ensure it’s designed to meet their mission needs,” she said.

News of the contract extension comes four weeks after Regent <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/futureflight/2026-09-02/regent-flies-electric-seaglider-crew-first-time">flew the Viceroy prototype with a crew for the first time</a>. Designed to carry 12 passengers, the Viceroy will cruise at up to 160 knots with a range of up to 160 nm, according to Regent. As a wing-in-ground-effect vessel, it falls under U.S. Coast Guard oversight rather than that of the FAA. In March 2025, Regent <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/futureflight/2025-03-21/regent-submits-seaglider-approval-plan-us-coast-guard">submitted its approval plan to the Coast Guard</a>, a document known as a design basis agreement, and the company is working toward approval of the vessel in 2027.
Regent announced its defense contract extension the same day it formally opened its 255,000-sq-ft manufacturing facility in Quonset, Rhode Island, where it plans to build up to 75 Viceroys and 300 of its smaller, uncrewed Squire seagliders per year at full production rates. The company expects to deliver the first Viceroys to customers as early as late 2027.&nbsp;
Although Regent designed the Viceroy primarily for commercial coastal travel, the Marine Corps work is one part of a broader push into defense. In July 2025, Regent formed a defense unit and announced plans for <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/defense/2025-07-17/regent-plans-military-variants-viceroy-electric-seaglider">uncrewed and hybrid-electric military variants</a> of the Viceroy. This past July, Squire <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/defense/2026-08-20/regent-demonstrates-seaglider-drone-us-navy-exercise">took part in Silent Swarm</a>, a Pentagon electronic warfare experiment held in Michigan.
In late August, Regent disclosed a $240 million Series B round co-led by Mare Liberum and AE Ventures, bringing its total equity and debt raised to $340 million. The company said the funding will help scale production of both the Viceroy and Squire.

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