The UK Ministry of Defence said on 27 October that Britain will lead three AUKUS payloads for uncrewed underwater vehicles, available to the Australian, British and US fleets from 20271. AUKUS is the security pact between Australia, the UK and the US; beyond nuclear submarines, it covers shared work on advanced military technology.
The first payload is a synthetic aperture sonar, which builds a sharp image of the seabed by stitching together successive pings as the vehicle moves. The second is a deployable anti-submarine warfare (ASW) sensor. The third is a deployable non-kinetic effector: a device that disrupts a target, by jamming or decoying for example, without destroying it.
The ministry made the announcement from Maritime Big Play, a US-UK-Australian uncrewed-systems exercise off San Diego, where Britain led the ASW strand with thirteen uncrewed surface vessels. The Netherlands authorised its own ASW surface-drone design in August. Two small firms funded by UK Defence Innovation demonstrated software at the exercise2: SEA Ltd of Frome, for planning underwater communications, and DAS Ltd of Basingstoke, for robot fleets that divide tasks among themselves without central control.
"The UK is all in on AUKUS," said Luke Pollard, the defence readiness and industry minister. A week later, DE&S chose a US prime for Britain's own mine-hunting vehicles, so London's claim to the pact rests on sensors, effectors and fleet software rather than hulls.
