Twenty six compliant industry proposals have been assessed during the first formal tendering phase of the Atlantic NET programme, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed, following parliamentary questions about the status of emerging undersea surveillance systems.
The clarification was provided in response to written questions from James Cartlidge MP, who asked whether contracts or orders had been placed for two systems referenced in a Ministry of Defence press release on undersea warfare technology published in December. Responding on behalf of the department, Minister of State Luke Pollard said that no procurement decisions have yet been taken.
“No contract or orders have been placed for the Herne large diameter uncrewed underwater vessel,” he said. “Procurement of such platforms would be conducted in accordance with UK commercial law, through a fair competition.” Addressing the second question, Pollard added: “No contract has been placed for Seabed Sentry. Procurement of such platforms would be conducted in accordance with UK commercial law, through a fair competition.”
Pollard also provided new detail on the progress of Atlantic NET, a programme intended to examine how persistent anti submarine warfare sensing might be delivered through service based models rather than through a single platform acquisition. “The first formal element of the tendering process for Atlantic NET commenced in September 2025 and was completed in January 2026,” he said.
“This involved the assessment of 26 compliant industry proposed solutions for ‘Persistent ASW Sense (ISR) as a Service’ and followed on from six months of regular two way industry engagement with approximately 327 companies in the supplier base. These are largely UK based, or have UK elements in their proposals.”
For context, Herne is an extra large autonomous underwater vehicle concept developed by BAE Systems in partnership with Canadian firm Cellula Robotics. The modular platform has been promoted for long endurance missions including intelligence, surveillance and seabed monitoring. Seabed Sentry, developed by Anduril, is a seabed based sensing concept intended to provide persistent underwater surveillance through distributed autonomous nodes, rather than through a single vehicle platform.
Has there been any hints as to which ones? I’m surprised there are 26 different solutions available across NATO, let alone in the UK.
Some companies may have proposed multiple solutions but even so.
” no procurement decisions have yet been taken…”
No surprise there.
I know we all want capability in the water, on land and in the air now, but this is the first element of the tendering process. The article mentions that procurement will be through the usual fair competition process. I would be worried if they’d placed orders based on 4 or 5 months work looking at 26 platforms. That being said, hopefully the next phases won’t be slow rolled so they can spread the cost over a number of years.
I know right, just pick the first one and throw loads of money at it. Simplez.
Well you see , taking Ajax as an example, it wasn’t the first pick, went through a torturous development and procurement process, had billions spent and sweet Fanny Adams to show for it.
It’s a never ending refrain : NMH, GBAD, Patria, IFV, drones, Atlas, mine warfare, ballistic missiles, MRSS etc. ” No procurement decisions ” just endless trials, market engagement, informing decisions, triple lethality, at pace……..
Yep. Even if there are valid reasons.
Defence is now the equivalent of the little boy who cried wolf, nobody believes they’ll lift a finger any more in actually buying something.
Matbe we need to try some out in the Bristol Channel.