Platform Authority
Royal Navy office that will certify uncrewed vessels safe to operate at sea.
The Royal Navy is standing up a Platform Authority to certify uncrewed vessels safe to operate, after Navy Commercial opened market engagement on 5 August 2026 with responses due by 19 August.
Last refreshed: 12 August 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
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Autonomous Systems: Land & SeaBackground
The Platform Authority is the office the Royal Navy is creating to certify that an uncrewed maritime vessel is SAFE to operate. Navy Commercial at Whale Island opened market engagement on 5 August 2026, inviting industry views on governance, engineering, certification support and through-life assurance for the role.
Certifying an uncrewed vessel is judged harder than certifying a crewed one, because there is no captain aboard to override the automation when something goes wrong. The post itself would be held by a crown servant, with supporting organisations expected to second engineering and assurance expertise rather than the Authority building all of it in house. Responses to the market notice close on 19 August, with a tender estimated for the following day.
The Authority's REMIT would extend beyond the two existing routes for judging an uncrewed vessel seaworthy, the IMO's MASS Code and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's Innovation Hub, neither of which asks who made the components fitted inside a vessel. It would also be the body expected to certify the GBP10m multi-role testbed hull the Navy is separately procuring for the Defence Chief Technology Officer.