British shipyard gearing up to build drone warships

Navantia UK’s Appledore shipyard is capable of constructing two of the company’s LASV75 large autonomous surface vessels concurrently and delivering two a year, the company has said, setting out its build capacity as Rear Admiral Matthew Stratton, Director Naval Acquisition, visited the North Devon yard.

According to the company, its production and build strategy engineers have established a manufacturing plan at Appledore for delivering large autonomous vessels at pace and scale in support of the Royal Navy’s hybrid fleet, bringing together digital design, modular construction and advanced production methods with the industrial capacity being established across its four UK yards, and providing what it described as persistent, cost-effective capability compared to comparable crewed platforms.

The LASV75 is Navantia UK’s UK-designed large autonomous surface vessel, designed from the keel up as an uncrewed platform and combining size, range and speed with a modular, open-architecture design. Since its launch at the Combined Naval Event, the company says it has matured the concept and demonstrated the platform’s modularity, with configurations developed spanning anti-air warfare, anti-submarine warfare, naval fires against land-based threats, and sensing, operational or combined roles, with the open architecture allowing a single vessel to be re-roled, even at sea, as operational demands change.

The company states the vessel has been designed to provide persistent capability while being built at significantly lower cost than comparable crewed platforms.

The capacity claim positions Appledore squarely for the uncrewed elements of the fleet the Defence Investment Plan describes, in which the Royal Navy transitions to a hybrid force mixing crewed warships with autonomous platforms, backed by £1.3 billion for the hybrid navy, six Common Combat Vessels coordinating uncrewed systems, and ministers describing missile barges and sensor platforms sailing alongside crewed ships. An anti-air warfare configuration of a large uncrewed vessel is precisely the class of platform for which the department has asked industry to develop missile silos able to remain ready to fire for 30 days without human interaction, under the request for information issued in May.

During the visit, Stratton was briefed on the Fleet Solid Support programme, under which Navantia UK is building three new supply ships for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, with Appledore constructing the bow sections of all three vessels and final assembly, systems integration and testing taking place at the company’s Harland and Wolff yard in Belfast. Steel was cut at Appledore for the first ship in December 2025, and the admiral toured recently upgraded facilities including the yard’s new pipe shop and plasma-cutting equipment, part of the company’s £157 million programme to modernise its four UK yards.

Donato Martinez, CEO of Navantia UK, said: “The work underway here demonstrates how FSS is supporting investment not only in new ships, but also in the people, technology and industrial capability needed to sustain UK shipbuilding over the long term. Our immediate priority remains the successful delivery of the three FSS vessels. At the same time, the capabilities we are developing across Appledore, and our wider UK yards will put us in a strong position to support the Royal Navy as it considers the future balance between crewed ships, autonomous platforms and new technologies.”

Stratton said it was a pleasure to experience first-hand the capabilities the yard offers and the investment in people and equipment taking place under Navantia ownership, adding: “The modernisation of the Navantia UK yards is a critical enabler to the successful delivery of the FSS programme as the UK modernises its RFA Solid Support capabilities in support of Carrier Strike capability. The importance of the FSS programme has been reconfirmed through the DIP and I was delighted to be updated on progress of the programme.”