RN Project Cabot and Atlantic Bastion

[Kirkhill]

UK to Field 6 Common Combat Vessels to Command Drone Fleets Against Russian Naval Threats

UK to field six Common Combat Vessels to command drone fleets and strengthen NATO's maritime deterrence against Russia

www.armyrecognition.com

Another article on how the CCV might fit in.

 

[Kirkhill]

UK DIP Details Platform Types to Underpin Royal Navy Hybrid Force Structure and Atlantic Fleet Series - Naval News

The UK new Defence Investment Plan (DIP) has detailed four platform types to be introduced into Royal Navy (RN) service

www.navalnews.com

So, situation to date

North Atlantic Strategy has four elements

Atlantic Net - Sense (Commercial partner to be announced imminently - based on autonomous sensors with year long durations)
Atlantic Bastion - ASW/Infrastructure Shield (Based on the Type 92 LUSV (ASW Sloop) and the Type 93 XLUUV)
Atlantic Shield - AAW/IAMD Shield (Bssed on the Type 94 LUSV (AAW Picket))
Atlantic Strike - LRPF/AAW (Based on the Type 91 LUSV (Missile Platform))

The LUSVs and XLUUVs will be expected to deploy autonomously for 30 days with no maintenance and remote supervision.

These will operate in conjuction with

7 Astute SSNs
6 Type 45 AAW Destroyers (to be phased out)
8 Type 26 ASW Frigates (2028-2035)
5 Type 31 GP Frigates (2026-2028)
6 Common Combat Vessels (originally proposed by BAE as Type 31 variants for Command and Control of the Hybrid Fleet)
4 OSV Motherships (to support minehunting and underwater infrastructure patrols)

Underwater infrastructure protection will also be managed by the commercial operators of the infrastructure. This will add to the Sense aspects, increasing the sensing of movements of ships and submarines.

Other Blue Water Assets

4 Vanguard SSBNs
2 Queen Elizabeth CVs
3 Bay Class LSD(A)s (to be phased out and replaced and/or expanded with new Amphibious Transport Ships)
8 River Class OPVs (to be modernized and/or expanded)

In addition the Royal Marines will be getting

60 Future All Terrain Vehicles (BVS10 Beowulfs to replace their BVS10 Vikings)
30? Joint Commando Craft (24 m, 60 tonne, 40-50 knots, long range, long endurance, capable of landing marines, ATVs and UGVs) - in conjunction with Norway for Norwegian style coasts (Rocky)

Weapons and Munitions

CCA UAVs launching from the Queen Elizabeth CVs by end of 2027 (Project Vanquish)
MQ-9 (STOL) launching from the Queen Elizabeth CVs for persistent sensing (AEW and Surface Search) - leading contender
UAVs and Heavy Lift Drones to replace phased out Wildcat Helicopters

Spearfish Torpedoes
CAMM SAMs
Martlet LMM Multipurpose Missiles
ASRAAM AAM/SAM Missiles
NLAW ATGMs
Sea Viper ABMs
NSM SSMs
Apache Weapons (JAGMs? Brimstones? APKWS IIs? Martlets? 30x113m Prox Rounds?)
Deep Precision Strike (2000 km by the 2030s)
Stratus Missile (RS - Hypersonic (500 km) and LO - Stealth (100 km) both designed for launch from Typhoons and Type 26s and 31s)
PrSM (US SRBMs in common with the US and Australian HIMARS/MRLS launchers)
Low Cost Cruise Missiles
One Way Effectors
Inexpensive Autonomous Weapons Systems for the Army, Marines and Special Forces
SPEARCAP3 and Standoff Weapons for the F35s
Directed Energy Weapons (DragonFire Lasers on the Type 45s from 2027)
New Ammuntion for the Type 31 guns (Volcano? Prox rounds for CUAS?)

6 new factories for energetics for the munitions.

 

[Kirkhill]

Deleted Double Post

 

[Kirkhill]

"At least a quarter of the £5 billion announced for drone warfare is going towards a “hybrid fleet,” a fundamental re-imagining of the Royal Navy. The UK’s sole ballistic missile defence capability – the Type 45 destroyers – will no longer be replaced by a like-for-like. Instead, a network of Crewed Combat Vessels (CCVs) will act as control hubs for specialised, uncrewed boats.

"These would include Type 91 missile barges, Type 92 and Type 93 anti-submarine and underwater surveillance platforms, and Type 94 radar vessels. In principle, distributing the sense, decide and strike functions across the navy offers several advantages."

The new technologies in the UK defence investment plan

The Defence Investment Plan provides £5 billion for drone warfare.

theconversation.com

Some concern about 5 BUKP being pretty paltry.

But if the effectors are containerised and covered under the separate munitions budget, likewise for the sensors....

Consider that the Type 91, 92 and 94s were all configured around the Autonomous USVs, like the Dutch Multifunctional Support Ship based on the Damen Fast Crew Supplier 5009, the British XV Patrick Blackett based on the Damen Fast Crew Supplier 4008 or the USNs MUSVs modeled after the Leidos/Swiftships Fast Supply Vessel Riley Claire/Nomad.

The British solution cost 7 MUKP for the Patrick Blackett
Fast Supply Vessels like the Riley Claire cost less than 10 MUSD.
The USN is offering 15 MUSD to anybody that can supply a similar vessel ready to receive containers and sail autonomously.

The British Cetus XLUUV XV Excalibur has as unit cost of 15 MUKP or 20 MUSD.

So.

5 BUKP = 6.8 BUSD

6800 MUSD divided by 20 MUSD per bare seaworthy hull (USV or UUV) = 340 autonomous platforms capable of riding out Sea State 4 to 6 while carrying 2 to 4 40 ft sea cans at speeds of up to 25 knots.

340 Type 91 Missile barges, Type 92 ASW sloops, Type 93 XLUUVs and Type 94 AAW Pickets (Sea Giraffes?)

 

[Kirkhill]

Interesting article on the use of a 70 MUKP OSV with a moon pool as a mothership to a fleet of usvs to monitor underwater infrastructure.

A gray British ship with a 120-ton crane on a two-mile wire just cruised past the Scottish coast, built to lower drones onto the garden-hose fiber cables that carry 99% of the world's internet — launching them through a hole cut in its own belly

RFA Proteus — the UK's James Bond-style seabed spy ship — sailed past Ailsa Craig on July 1, packing a moon pool and 120-tonne crane to guard undersea cables.

www.autonocion.com

I believe the RN is looking at buying three similar motherships from Norway as part of the Bastion plan.

 

[Kirkhill]

"At least a quarter of the £5 billion announced for drone warfare is going towards a “hybrid fleet,” a fundamental re-imagining of the Royal Navy. The UK’s sole ballistic missile defence capability – the Type 45 destroyers – will no longer be replaced by a like-for-like. Instead, a network of Crewed Combat Vessels (CCVs) will act as control hubs for specialised, uncrewed boats.

"These would include Type 91 missile barges, Type 92 and Type 93 anti-submarine and underwater surveillance platforms, and Type 94 radar vessels. In principle, distributing the sense, decide and strike functions across the navy offers several advantages."

The new technologies in the UK defence investment plan

The Defence Investment Plan provides £5 billion for drone warfare.

theconversation.com

Some concern about 5 BUKP being pretty paltry.

But if the effectors are containerised and covered under the separate munitions budget, likewise for the sensors....

Consider that the Type 91, 92 and 94s were all configured around the Autonomous USVs, like the Dutch Multifunctional Support Ship based on the Damen Fast Crew Supplier 5009, the British XV Patrick Blackett based on the Damen Fast Crew Supplier 4008 or the USNs MUSVs modeled after the Leidos/Swiftships Fast Supply Vessel Riley Claire/Nomad.

The British solution cost 7 MUKP for the Patrick Blackett
Fast Supply Vessels like the Riley Claire cost less than 10 MUSD.
The USN is offering 15 MUSD to anybody that can supply a similar vessel ready to receive containers and sail autonomously.

The British Cetus XLUUV XV Excalibur has as unit cost of 15 MUKP or 20 MUSD.

So.

5 BUKP = 6.8 BUSD

6800 MUSD divided by 20 MUSD per bare seaworthy hull (USV or UUV) = 340 autonomous platforms capable of riding out Sea State 4 to 6 while carrying 2 to 4 40 ft sea cans at speeds of up to 25 knots.

340 Type 91 Missile barges, Type 92 ASW sloops, Type 93 XLUUVs and Type 94 AAW Pickets (Sea Giraffes?)

I need to revise this.

The Navy's share of the Drone budget for autonomous hulls is only 1.5 BUKP or 30% of the total

That means something like 100 hulls instead of 340.

 

[Kirkhill]

Continued commentary on The Hybrid Navy
An uncrewed missile barge (Type 91 LUSV) by 2030 or 3 to 4 years.
The optionally crewed Dutch "missile barge", the Multifunction Support Ship, is due to enter service in 2027.
The USN anticipates 39 MUSVs in service in 2027 (delivered from at least 7 different suppliers with 7 different designs) with 83 in service by 2031.

Uncrewed missile ship prototype to join British fleet by 2030

A prototype uncrewed missile platform and extra-large uncrewed underwater vessels are intended to be in Royal Navy service by 2030.

ukdefencejournal.org.uk

MSS, the future Naval Wingmen of the Dutch anti-aircraft frigates, will arrive in 2026

The Dutch Navy's future multi-purpose support ships, or MSS, will be able to carry up to 24 long-range Barak ER surface-to-air missiles

meta-defense.fr

US to double down on MUSV production

Figures in the latest US Navy Shipbuilding Plan suggest the service will double its Medium Uncrewed Surface Vessels between 2027 and 2031.

www.naval-technology.com

U.S. Navy Selects 7 Contenders for the MUSV Program | Hawaiʻi Technology Development Corporation

The U.S. Navy’s Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel (MUSV) program selected 7 separate designs to advance towards at sea testing, with further scaling following suit as a part of the several […]

www.htdc.org

 

[Kirkhill]

This article from the US Library of Congress does a good job of summarizing developments up to the now cancelled MASC procurement model in 2025. That procurement plan has been replaced by the current marketplace model.

Rather than designing as specifying the new vessels they have asked the marketplace to supply whatever they can immediately and the USN will buy them and start using them to explore their full range of capabilities.

https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R45757

 

[Kirkhill]

One thing that continues to fascinate me is whether or not small unit developments will outpace large unit developments and quickly render today's plans for MUSVs and LUSVs obsolescent by the time they hit the water.

There seems to be a lot of small (2 to 20m) vessels in and under the water that have useful payloads, long legs and long endurance.

They are cheap to build, fast to develop and modify and no great loss if they die r disappear. They can be easily replaced.

What does the world look like if the North Atlantic is carpeted by hundreds of 20m Saildrones, 11m launches and 6m XLUUVs, all operating within sight of each other, communicating through air and water in real time and capable of launching additional effects on, over and under the sea?

We built big to accommodate people because only people could accomplish the tasks we wanted done.

Now a lot of those tasks can be done cheaply by small macines.
And we can get actual people on to any scene anywhere in a matter of hours.

 

[Kirkhill]

U.S. Navy Expands Unmanned Surface Vessel Operations at RIMPAC 2026 with Saildrone Surveyor

The U.S. Navy expands unmanned surface vessel operations at RIMPAC 2026 with Saildrone Surveyor to enhance maritime surveillance.

www.armyrecognition.com

https://www.war.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/4338641/success-at-sea-unmanned-surface-vessel-completes-fastest-transatlantic-crossing/

Sailbuoy

Sailbuoy is a long endurance unmanned surface vehicle for the oceans. Explore Sailbuoy and customize it to meet your needs by selecting from ...

sailbuoy.no

Unmanned boat completes first Atlantic trip from Canada to Ireland - National | Globalnews.ca

A Norwegian-made robot boat has become the first unmanned sailboat to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

globalnews.ca

 

[Kirkhill]

This ship has been developed by the same Plymouth UK company that has supplied the Project CETUS XLUUV XV Excalibur to the RN.

Mayflower Autonomous Research Ship (MARS)

The autonomous ship is suitable for all types of meteorological, oceanographic and climate-related data gathering and research.

www.ship-technology.com

MAS is designed to carry drones and can be used as a test bed for new navigation software, renewable energy and propulsion systems for marine vessels.

Mayflower autonomous ship design and features
The Mayflower Autonomous Ship has an overall length of 15m, is 6.2m wide, has a beam of 16.8m, a draft of 0.875m and a sail area of 159m². It has a weight of 4,535kg (5t) and a capacity of 700kg for equipment.

The ship’s hull is made of glass/aramid/foam composites, while the deck is built using carbon/Nomex materials.

A trimaran design integrating a multi-hull structure is adopted for the ship to enable low-speed motoring. The hull configuration is designed to reduce windage (air resistance) and wave impact. The centre hull features a lower silhouette, while the wings and deck are separated and raised above the struts.

https://www.weforum.org/videos/26228-the-first-autonomous-ship-just-crossed-the-atlantic-ocean/

IBM Newsroom - The Mayflower Autonomous Ship Project

newsroom.ibm.com