XL Autonomous Submarines – UK Navy’s Next Development

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The UK Ministry of Defence wants to increase its presence in the underwater battlespace and is exploring the use of extra-large uncrewed underwater vehicles (XLUUV) for surveillance, reconnaissance, and anti-submarine warfare operations. Currently, smaller autonomous and remotely piloted submarines are unable to undertake all the tasks of larger crewed submarines.

The UK government is investing up to £2.5 million (US$3.2 million) to begin the development of an extra-large autonomous submarine for the Royal Navy. An initial contract has been awarded to Plymouth-based MSubs to build a test submarine that will be used to explore the potential capabilities of larger uncrewed underwater vehicles in the future.

Measuring about 30 feet in length, this extra-large autonomous submarine is significantly larger than autonomous submarines used for beach reconnaissance, allowing it to operate at a range of 3000 nautical miles.

Remotely piloted and autonomous systems will increase our reach and lethality, improve our efficiency and reduce the number of people we have to put in harm’s way, said Admiral Tony Radakin..

XLUUV submarines are especially adept at covert intelligence gathering. They can leave their dock autonomously and secretly move to the operational area without any embarked crew for up to three months. They are also able to sense hostile targets and report their findings back to the station, making them an important barrier for anti-submarine warfare.

The first phase of DASA’s Developing the Royal Navy’s Autonomous Underwater Capability programme, run jointly with the Royal Navy and Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), will see an existing crewed submersible refitted with autonomous control systems.

If initial testing is successful, up to a further £1.5-million is available to further test the new capability.