Timeline for Frome
#14 27 Oct
Mentioned in: UK to lead three AUKUS undersea payloads
Autonomous Systems: Land & SeaBackground
Frome is a market town in Somerset. It is the base of SEA Ltd (Systems Engineering & Assessment), a UK Defence Innovation-funded firm that demonstrated its Acoustic Deployment Environment Planning Tool, which predicts underwater communications performance, at the Maritime Big Play exercise off San Diego in October 2026.
Defence minister Luke Pollard named Frome, with Basingstoke and Dorchester, as towns for British work on AUKUS uncrewed underwater payloads. The releases named no contract values.
Common Questions
Which Frome company took part in the AUKUS Maritime Big Play exercise?
SEA Ltd, based in Frome, demonstrated a tool that predicts and optimises underwater communications at Maritime Big Play off San Diego in October 2026.Source: UK Ministry of Defence
What will the UK lead in AUKUS underwater drone work?
The UK will lead three AUKUS payloads for uncrewed underwater vehicles from 2027: a synthetic aperture sonar, a deployable anti-submarine sensor and a deployable non-kinetic effector.Source: UK Ministry of Defence
How the World Sees Them
Elbit Systems
a complete multi-domain autonomous ecosystem
Naval Group and the DGA
10-day increments without human intervention
Australian Department of Defence
Those Ghost Sharks now have teeth
UK Ministry of Defence
The UK is all in on AUKUS
DNV and Fassmer
becoming one of the key pillars in defence
UK Defence Intelligence and Kraken
almost certainly marks the first time
Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Updated 8 November 2026. Editorial standards.