The Royal Navy has received its first fleet of uncrewed vessels under Project Beehive, the First Sea Lord confirmed in a speech at RUSI on Tuesday, describing it as a significant milestone in the creation of the Hybrid Navy.
General Sir Gwyn Jenkins confirmed the Royal Navy had received 20 uncrewed vessels through its partnership with UK company Kraken, which will be used by 47 Commando Royal Marines for training and operations. He described the delivery as “a significant milestone in the creation of the Hybrid Navy” and said the boats had been delivered in a matter of months, calling it testament to “the agile procurement system we have established and the strong partnerships we have forged with British industry.”
Jenkins also revealed that a Navy-wide wargame held at Southwick Park at the end of last month had tested the Hybrid Navy concept, saying it provided “clear evidence that our Hybrid approach will deliver a significant increase in warfighting capability, with the chances of mission success rising notably.” He said the wargame showed the Hybrid Navy generating a substantial increase in combat mass as measured by weapons and sensors, that missile capacity increased three-fold at “the level necessary to win a contest in the North Atlantic” and that readiness to respond improved markedly across all key missions including the continuous at sea deterrent, carrier strike groups, amphibious strike groups and integrated air and missile defence.
Looking ahead to near-term milestones, Jenkins said the first uncrewed gliders patrolling the North Atlantic to detect and monitor hostile activity would be in the water for Atlantic Bastion this year, that he aimed to have the first uncrewed escort ships sailing alongside Royal Navy warships within the next two years, and that the first jet-powered drone would be launched from a carrier next year.
Jenkins also pointed to the conversion of RFA Lyme Bay into a mothership for autonomous and uncrewed mine hunting capabilities as evidence of the Hybrid Navy already operating in practice, describing it as “just the start of a multi-phase process” providing “rapidly deployable and easily scalable solutions to the current situation in the Middle East, all while minimising cost to the taxpayer compared to traditional ships, reducing the risk to our sailors and marines in the process, and improving our effectiveness.”
The First Sea Lord said the Hybrid Navy was not about replacing existing capabilities but increasing the mass, survivability and lethality of the force, saying “it is only through blending the conventional and the new that we will achieve this” and warning that “there is no scenario in which we will have unlimited resources.” He described the vision in practical terms as a Type 26 frigate operating in company with two uncrewed escorts using AI, while a submarine drone hunts subsurface threats alongside crewed platforms, saying “this is what hybrid looks like.”
Very nice. I would hope then that this leads to contractors like BAE systems etc, coming up with future cheaper, faster to build, perhaps, autonomous frigate/mothership concepts as the tech progresses. Can we use this new hybrid approach to achieve a greater level of mass faster, then having to wait 6-10 years for a ship/boat?
What will the RN do with them operationally?
Anyone know?
Thats good to see. We need this approach everywhere. Every service needs urgent fleshing out. I admit my older infantry/Nato brain still thinks of mass in the form of tanks, ships and manned aircraft. However seeing what the Ukes have achieved, especially at sea, has changed my thinking. I do however struggle with those poor Russian sods faces when faced by a drone, a drone flown by some kid with an XBox gadget. Wonder if said kid could act as a real soldier in real combat…