OSLO, Norway — The Royal Navy will get a new network of drones, sensors and AI systems to guard undersea cables and hunt Russian submarines in the North Atlantic, under a £90 million framework for a system known as Atlantic Net that the Ministry of Defence announced Tuesday.
The network will equip the Navy with autonomous systems operating across the North Atlantic, including advanced sensors to detect Russian submarines and other hostile activity, and uncrewed systems able to patrol the depths, hunting down threats.
Together, the systems will create a single surveillance service that gives submarine-hunting warships and Astute-class submarines earlier warning of threats and a clearer picture of activity beneath the surface, the ministry said.
The framework with Hampshire-based company Ocean Infinity Solutions is the first phase of Atlantic Bastion, the Royal Navy’s program to create a hybrid naval force of crewed and uncrewed vessels — a key recommendation of the Strategic Defence Review — and was due to be signed Tuesday. It was announced at the International Sea Power Conference in Oslo.
Luke Pollard, the minister for defence readiness and industry, said the investment shows Britain is “strengthening our deterrence under the sea, to support our ultimate, nuclear deterrent.”
“The threats beneath the North Atlantic are changing, and we are changing with them.”
“This investment gives the Royal Navy new technology to find threats earlier and protect our critical infrastructure, while also backing British business,” Pollard added.
The agreement will pave the way for £90 million of investment, supporting almost 200 new skilled jobs at the company and across its immediate supply chain. The ministry said the deal builds on the 38,700 jobs in South East England directly supported by its spending with industry.
Guarding Cables and Energy Networks
Atlantic Bastion is the Navy’s plan to protect the vast network of critical underwater infrastructure that connects and powers the UK and its allies, including communications cables and energy networks. Working alongside NATO and Joint Expeditionary Force allies, it is meant to strengthen protection against interference, sabotage and hostile activity, with Atlantic Net increasing the scale, persistence and resilience of underwater surveillance.
The Royal Navy and Ocean Infinity Solutions will bring together maritime systems, underwater sensing, communications, remote operations and data services into a single capability directed by the Royal Navy.