The Royal Navy’s new Type 26 frigates will form the core of Atlantic Bastion, the United Kingdom’s emerging anti-submarine warfare (ASW) framework in the North Atlantic, according to written parliamentary responses from Defence Minister Al Carns.
Carns described Atlantic Bastion as “a portfolio of programmes to secure the North Atlantic for the UK and in support of NATO against a range of underwater threats.”
The initiative is designed to integrate new and existing platforms into a digitally networked system, linking ships, aircraft, and autonomous sensors into a single operational picture.
At the heart of that system will be the Type 26 frigate force. Each ship is equipped with a flexible mission bay that can host a range of uncrewed surface and underwater vehicles, supporting the layered acoustic surveillance network central to Bastion’s design. The frigates’ quiet propulsion, advanced sonar suite, and modular architecture make them ideal as command nodes in what the Strategic Defence Review 2025 called an “integrated, multi-domain approach.”
Carns said capability options under Atlantic Bastion are already being submitted for consideration in the upcoming Defence Investment Plan, including technologies “deployable from the Type 26 Frigate Force.” These include acoustic detection systems powered by artificial intelligence and linked into the Royal Navy’s digital targeting web, which will fuse data from surface ships, submarines, and maritime patrol aircraft to accelerate tracking and engagement of hostile submarines.
The minister confirmed that Atlantic Bastion will operate separately from Baltic Sentry, a NATO-led initiative in the Baltic Sea, but that both efforts will share intelligence and lessons learned. He also pointed to collaboration under AUKUS Pillar 2, where the UK, U.S., and Australia are developing “an algorithm to support Maritime Patrol Aircraft processing systems,” intended to inform the next generation of AI-enhanced underwater surveillance.
Together, these assets, it is hoped, will form the foundation of a networked, AI-driven barrier against adversary submarines, realising the Strategic Defence Review’s call for a “comprehensive and layered sensor network operating on, above and below the water.”
all great but at the danger of being repetitious, how many new platforms? how soon?
twenty years
How will Norway fit into this system?
Another way of confirming T32 was just a Borris mis-speak ?
t32 won’t be happening.
“a portfolio of programmes to secure the North Atlantic for the UK” Am I the only one worried when you hear overblown expectations of this nature when we are still years away from even the first ship becoming active. Even if all these ships and proposed platforms were active I think such a claim is totally vainglorious. No such hyperbole can be deemed valid till it’s truly tested. This smacks of the arrogance about the invulnerability of Singapore after all ‘you couldn’t take those little yellow Asians seriously’ and we all know how that ended. I want to know that we are best prepared to defend this vital area with proven resources not ridiculous claims of this nature, when it will require concerted efforts all all manner of broader NATO Countries and assets working extremely efficiently together to provide serious security in this region. Hyperbole should not be involved, quiet confidence based on facts and assets is far more convincing.