Andrew Rosindell, Conservative MP for Romford, recently asked the Secretary of State for Defence about the UK’s progress in developing undersea and counter-hypersonic capabilities as part of AUKUS Pillar 2.
The inquiry sought an update on advancements made under the trilateral security partnership between the UK, US, and Australia.
Luke Pollard, Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Defence, provided a detailed response outlining the ongoing efforts in collaboration with AUKUS partners.
He explained that significant work is being done on developing undersea capabilities, particularly focusing on the use of uncrewed underwater systems. Pollard stated:
“With our AUKUS partners we are undertaking a range of work developing undersea capabilities, including the ability to launch and recover uncrewed underwater systems from current classes of British and American submarines and integrating this capability to the SSN-AUKUS design.”
The UK and its partners are also exploring further collaboration on undersea warfare sensors and payloads. This includes integrating the Sting Ray torpedo into maritime patrol aircraft used by both the UK and the US, and employing advanced artificial intelligence algorithms to process data from the nations’ sonobuoys.
In addition to undersea efforts, Pollard highlighted progress on hypersonic and counter-hypersonic capabilities. The AUKUS partners are working together on a series of trilateral tests and experiments aimed at accelerating the development of these critical technologies. Pollard said:
“The AUKUS partners are increasing our collective ability to develop and deliver hypersonic and counter-hypersonic technologies through a series of trilateral tests and experiments that will accelerate the development of hypersonic concepts and critical enabling technologies.”
