The Royal Navy is looking for industry options to convert a rigid hull inflatable boat or similar vessel into a remotely operated uncrewed surface vehicle to be used as a mobile target in naval exercises, according to a prior information notice published on 19 April.
The notice, published by the Ministry of Defence and based at Portsmouth, sets a target unit cost of around £60,000 or below, reflecting an explicit acknowledgement that the global proliferation of low-cost uncrewed surface systems has made affordable options increasingly available and that the Royal Navy wants to take advantage of that to accelerate its own trials and experimentation programme.
The contract is listed with a delivery window of July 2026 to July 2027 and covers goods rather than services, suggesting the Navy is looking to procure converted or purpose-built hardware rather than commission a development programme, with the sub-£60,000 price point pointing toward off-the-shelf or lightly modified commercial solutions rather than bespoke military systems.
Oh bugger me, I can’t
Nope
Besides, If I did say the obvious, It’ll upset some on here.
(It’s only banter)🚤
Not hard to know where to look is it😂
Exactly.
But It’s so much fun reading all the Ultra serious comments on here now !
It’s like they think it makes a difference 🤔😁🤦♂️
Haha
I’m amazed that anyone would think it costs £60k.
We are talking cheap RIB and mid sized outboard and a cheapo servo steering/throttle system with an emergency cut out.
Yes, it needs to be able to manoeuvre hard but importantly a swarm needs to be affordable.
A used RIB with engine is 40k. It can’t be some cheapo control system, you have to have something that fails fafe. The last thing you want is your traget drone going off out of the range into group of wild swimmers 15 miles away. When they turned HMS Centurion into a radio controlled traget ship in the 1920s they put in multiple redundancies and and system that progressively shut down power if it lost contact. Its not a new requirement its been around over 100 years. Its cost more consequently.
A new RIB bough in bulk cuu out it’s nothing like that.
The remote would be fail safed to gradually reduce power if control handshake signal was lost and/or return to holding pattern in defined zone with emergency cut out signal.
None of those things are hard – they are standard in drone control.
They have also been done for donkeys on versus range test setups.
You have to prove that with risk management programme. Unless you are personally volunteering to take personal criminal and civil legal responsibility like the safety manager does its going to cost money. I hope you carry enough professional indemnity insurance for Leigh Day coming knocking with the lastest leftwing grievance suit.
Oh ffs 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Is this much different from what Ukraine has been using to combat the Russian navy in the Black Sea?
Yes. Whatever we buy it will be twice the price and take ten years to deliver.😏
😁😁😁
🚤🚀🎆
I know where you can get a free boat & engine on a sunny day in southern England! And have a nice ice cream as you wait for it to arrive.
Lol. I wonder what they do with those.