The Ministry of Defence is looking for a system to recover autonomous underwater vehicles that have broken down at sea, capable of lifting a craft up to seven metres long and three tonnes in weight, the department stated in a market engagement notice.
The notice, identifier was published on 18 August 2026. Estimated contract dates run from 1 February 2027 to 1 February 2029, with a tender notice expected around 31 October 2026, and the department says delivery could fall within the 2026/27 financial year subject to funding, approvals and lead times.
The requirement exists because the current arrangements are improvised. According to the notice, the system is intended “to provide the Ministry of Defence with a safer, more controlled and lower-risk method of recovering AUVs during non-standard or emergency recovery operations”, working either on its own or alongside a vessel’s existing crane, and compatible with a broad range of ships with differing deck layouts, freeboards and crane configurations.
The safety case is set out as the department says the system “is intended to reduce reliance on improvised recovery arrangements and improve operational resilience where the primary recovery system is unavailable or unsuitable. The system should reduce personnel exposure at the vessel edge, help mitigate the risk of person overboard incidents, and reduce the likelihood of damage to the AUV or host vessel.”
On the scenarios it has to cover, the notice states an interest in “solutions that are simple to rig, transportable, recoverable in challenging maritime conditions, and support emergency recovery scenarios where the AUV has suffered propulsion, communications, navigation or power-system failures.”
Recovering an uncrewed submersible in a seaway is among the harder routine tasks in maritime autonomy. A vehicle that has lost propulsion cannot position itself alongside, one that has lost communications cannot be commanded to surface at a chosen point, and a three-tonne object moving independently of the ship in a swell is a hazard both to itself and to anyone leaning over the side to catch it. Crews have historically improvised with poles, lines and grapples, which is precisely the practice the department is trying to end.
The system must be suitable for repeated operational use in the maritime environment and supplied with certification, operating instructions, maintenance information and inspection requirements. The department is also interested in maintenance and support services, training options and the average lead time from order to delivery.
The notice is classified under common procurement vocabulary codes for uncrewed underwater vehicles and marine equipment, and is listed as particularly suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises and for voluntary, community and social enterprises. No supplier engagement events are planned, with expressions of interest to be submitted by email by 18 September.
The size envelope points at the larger end of the Royal Navy’s uncrewed underwater fleet. The service has been expanding in this area through autonomous mine countermeasures systems and through trials vessels including the extra-large uncrewed submersible Cetus, built by MSubs of Plymouth, while the Strategic Defence Review of 2025 set out an intention to pair crewed submarines with uncrewed vehicles for monitoring the North Atlantic and protecting undersea infrastructure.
The department notes that issuing the notice does not commit it to carrying out any procurement.
