with Dino Mavrikes & Vib Alakar (Saronic founders)
5 Aug 20264 min read21m
TL;DR
Saronic's autonomous 24-foot speedboat, Corsair, was used to rescue two downed US pilots in the Strait of Hormuz — the first-ever autonomous ship rescue in combat. Meanwhile, China now builds 23 million gross tons of ships per year versus America's 100,000, a 230-to-1 advantage, and delivered over 1,000 commercial ships last year while the US built five. Saronic argues that autonomous, unmanned surface vessels built on firm-fixed-price contracts — not cost-plus — are the only way to close that gap at scale.
Key Moments
Dino
“There's downed American pilots in the Straits of Hormuz. like Corsair, which you actually see right over my right shoulder, which is our 24 foot fully autonomous speedboat for th for those that don't know. Um, he said, "We're going to use that to rescue the pilots."”
Dino recounting the moment the Navy decided to deploy Corsair for the pilot rescue mission in the Strait of Hormuz
“The United States can build a 100,000 gross tons of ships every year. The Chinese, which you were referencing, can build 23 million gross tons. So, they can out build the US 230 to1.”
Dino putting the US-China shipbuilding gap in concrete numbers for the first time in the conversation
All-In is a podcast hosted by Silicon Valley investors and operators covering tech, business, and geopolitics. This episode features an interview with the co-founders of Saronic, a defense startup building autonomous surface vessels for the US Navy. The show is known for direct, opinionated conversations with founders and investors shaping the technology landscape.
Takeaways
1
Unmanned ships field 20x more firepower per year A $3B destroyer takes 6–8 years to build and yields roughly 10–15 VLS missile tubes per year of production time. Saronic plans to build 20 Marauders per year at its Louisiana shipyard, each carrying 16 VLS-equivalent tubes — delivering 320 tubes per year at a fraction of the cost.
2
China outbuilds US ships 230-to-1 China produces 23 million gross tons of ships per year versus America's 100,000 — a gap that didn't exist 30 years ago when China held just 5% of global shipbuilding capacity. Today China holds 57% and is growing, subsidizing raw materials and labor so a ship built in China costs one-fifth what it costs in the US.
3
Autonomous ships rescue pilots without risking more lives Saronic's Corsair — a $1M, 24-foot fully autonomous speedboat — was used by the US Navy to rescue two downed pilots in the Strait of Hormuz, the first such autonomous rescue in combat history. The mission demonstrated that search-and-rescue no longer requires sending additional sailors into hostile territory.
4
US naval fleet is actively shrinking Congress mandated a minimum fleet of 355 ships in 2018; the US currently has 296. In the most recent year, the Navy built 9 ships but retired 19, moving further from the mandate. China's fleet is already at roughly 370 and climbing toward 450.
5
Cost-plus contracts structurally reward delay and waste Under cost-plus, a defense contractor earns a fixed 10–15% margin on total spend, meaning higher costs and longer timelines directly increase profit. Saronic builds on firm-fixed-price contracts using private capital ($2.5B raised in four years), removing that perverse incentive and forcing genuine cost discipline.
6
Vertical integration unlocks shipbuilding speed Legacy defense shipbuilding separates design from construction, and 70% of sequence-critical components on some Navy ships come from sole-source suppliers — making delays structural. Saronic owns design, shipyard, and software under one roof, letting naval architects and welders iterate together and digitize components that have been analog for decades.
7
Saronic can already produce 2,000 Corsairs per year The company says its Austin manufacturing facility has current capacity to build 2,000 Corsair vessels annually. At roughly $1M each, that represents $2B of deployable autonomous naval assets per year from a single facility — a scale no traditional US shipbuilder approaches.