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Type 93
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Type 93

A planned Royal Navy class of extra-large uncrewed underwater vessel named in the 2026 Defence Investment Plan.

On 16 July 2026 the Ministry of Defence confirmed Type 93, a large uncrewed underwater vehicle grown from the Excalibur programme, as one of four uncrewed Royal Navy classes, the same week the US Navy handed a comparable design brief to Kongsberg Discovery.

Last refreshed: 24 July 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic

Key Question

Is Britain's Type 93 drone submarine keeping pace with the US Navy's CAMP programme?

Timeline for Type 93

#7 16 Jul

Type 91 to 94 robot fleet takes shape

Autonomous Systems: Land & Sea
#5 30 Jun

Named as an extra-large uncrewed underwater vessel class

Autonomous Systems: Land & Sea: Britain names four uncrewed warship classes
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Background

Type 93 is the Royal Navy's planned extra-large uncrewed underwater vehicle, formalising work already under way through the Excalibur development programme for long-endurance underwater surveillance.

As one of four uncrewed classes covering surface, subsurface and anti-submarine roles, Type 93 extends the Royal Navy's underwater sensing reach without committing a crewed submarine to long, quiet patrols. Its lineage in Excalibur gives it a firmer engineering base than its sibling classes, most of which start from a design brief rather than an existing trial vehicle.

No contractor, unit cost or in-service date beyond the shared 2030 programme aspiration has been attached to Type 93 specifically, so its progress will be measured against Excalibur's own trial results rather than a fresh procurement competition.

Key Issues
Uncrewed submarines

Type 93 formalises the Excalibur programme

The Ministry of Defence named Type 93 on 30 June 2026 within its GBP5 billion autonomy plan , then confirmed its role on 16 July: an extra-large uncrewed underwater vehicle grown out of the Royal Navy's existing Excalibur development work, one of four classes sharing a joint funding line running to 2030.

For Type 93, formalisation matters because it now sits in the same design category as the US Navy's CAMP effort, awarded to Kongsberg Discovery and Oceaneering International the same week, giving Britain a domestic parallel to track against an American programme moving on a similar timeline.

Common Questions
What is the Royal Navy's Type 93 class?
Type 93 is a planned extra-large uncrewed underwater vehicle for long-endurance underwater surveillance, grown from the existing Excalibur programme.Source: The News (Portsmouth)
How does Type 93 relate to the Excalibur programme?
Type 93 formalises the Royal Navy's existing Excalibur XLUUV development effort into a named class alongside Type 91, 92 and 94.Source: The News (Portsmouth)
How does Type 93 compare to the US Navy's CAMP submarine drone?
Type 93 sits in the same extra-large uncrewed underwater vehicle category as the US Navy's CAMP design, led by Kongsberg Discovery and Oceaneering International, making it a British parallel to a design effort now underway in the US.Source: The News (Portsmouth)