Royal Navy orders first crewless submarine
Image courtesy Royal Navy
In just two years’ time Cetus (above) – named after a mythological sea monster – will move stealthily through the oceans, monitoring hostile activity, listening out for ships or submarines which may pose a threat to the Fleet, or to key national infrastructure such as deep-sea cables and pipelines.
The Royal Navy has experimented with – and in some cases operated – autonomous underwater systems for more than a decade. Most are small, off-the-shelf technologies, largely used in minehunting.
The £15.4m Cetus is in a different league: the length of a bus, it will be the largest and most complex crewless submersible operated by European navies, designed and built specially for the Royal Navy by Plymouth-based tech firm MSubs, creating ten specialist jobs and supporting 70 more.
Funded by the Anti-Submarine Warfare Spearhead programme, run by the Royal Navy’s “Develop Directorate” from their Headquarters in Portsmouth and delivered through the Submarine Delivery Agency in Bristol, this is the latest in a series of novel underwater technologies being brought to life to deal with the threats of the next decade.
First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Ben Key said: "This is a hugely exciting moment for Project Cetus as the Royal Navy surges ahead with the development of autonomous technology.
“This Extra Large Autonomous Underwater Vehicle is a capability step-change in our mission to dominate the underwater battle space. And I am delighted that the project is able to support a small, innovative UK company which is at the cutting edge of this sector.”
At 12 metres long and 2.2 metres in diameter, the 17-tonne submarine can fit inside a shipping container and be transported around the world to wherever the Fleet needs it.
The unarmed battery-powered craft will be able to dive deeper than any vessel in the current submarine fleet and cover up to 1,000 miles in a single mission.
Acting as an operational demonstrator, the goal is for Cetus – and its successors – to work side-by-side with traditional crewed submarines, such as the current Astute-class hunter-killers, or independently.
The crewless submarine is the latest step taken by the Royal Navy into the world of autonomy.
Autonomous minehunting systems are already operating in Scotland, driverless Pacific 24 sea boats are undergoing testing, numerous aerial drones are employed by ships both for reconnaissance/intelligence gathering and target practice for air defence.
The Royal Navy has also invested in a dedicated tech trials ship, XV Patrick Blackett, to assess this new equipment and help determine how it might be used or integrated into the Fleet.
Cetus will do the same for the Silent Service, explained Lieutenant Commander Andrew Witts: “One hundred and twenty years ago the Royal Navy had the foresight to invest in Holland I – the UK’s first submarine – which helped revolutionise naval warfare above and below the waves,” he said.
“Cetus is our first venture into large-scale, uncrewed submarines. It’s exciting, the possibilities are enormous, and I like to think Cetus could change the way we fight under the sea as much as those pioneers in Holland I did.”
Brett Phaneuf, Chief Executive of MSubs, said his team was proud to take the lead in developing the next generation of autonomous underwater vehicle for the Royal Navy.
“The faith the Royal Navy has shown in our small business is humbling and we look forward to working closely together in the future, as we have in the recent past, to develop and deploy Cetus, in the national interest.”
James Marques, Associate Aerospace, Defense and Security Analyst at GlobalData, commented: “Submarines are powerful deterrents and vital to protecting the UK’s interests as a maritime trading nation but they are also some of the most expensive military undertakings, with difficult recruitment and retention for technical and skilled crews.
A Ukrainian attack on the Russian fleet at Sevastopol with a squadron of unmanned vessels has underlined the emerging role that ‘drone’ ships will have in naval warfare at a fraction of the cost of crewed ships. The Cetus announcement follows a recent acquisition of three smaller UUVs from the US’s Huntington Ingalls, as the tense security environment pressures the MoD to experiment faster.
“Plymouth-based MSubs’s Cetus is a modular and portable design that is intended to work side-by-side with the Royal Navy’s crewed vessels – both surface ships and submarines. Although the Navy already uses crewless systems for minesweeping and reconnaissance, Cetus will likely work to protect vital undersea cables and alongside manned Astute-class attack submarines, with a range of 1,000 miles and deep-sea capability. The project will be a testbed to mature ‘best practice’ operations for future unmanned vessels in more combat-orientated roles, which will be a big leap in UK naval history.”
