“Equally, if you have small, unmanned vessels that are potentially armed they can support an armed, manned traditional vessel that acts as a mothership to various smaller autonomous systems,” he adds.
That’s not just in terms of numbers of vessels but also things like missile tubes, which is important as when some of the subs go out of service, you’re potentially facing a reduction in the number of missile tubes.”īlack explains that an uncrewed replacement could take the format of effectively a large magazine of missile tubes that floats, equipped with command and control software and sensors, delivering extra firepower. They’re probably not currently planning to count unmanned platforms towards the total, but they are aware that unmanned assets might enable them to increase overall mass. “At the same time, it’s got this ambition to grow the size of the fleet to 355 ships. There is also an increasing awareness of a rising China, which has made heavy investments in naval capabilities with the People’s Liberation Army Navy increasing in size and sophistication. It’s also a country that has several overseas territories and is heavily reliant on international trade and the free movement of goods via sea lanes.īut a recent shift in the threat environment dating back to the 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia triggered NATO allies that had spent the previous ten to 15 years focused on counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations to turn their attention back to near-abroad territorial defence threats. The UK as an island nation has a long history of heavy emphasis on sea power and expeditionary power projection. You only need to witness the grandeur of the Royal Navy’s Carrier Strike Group spearheaded by aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth to recognise that there’s an international renewed interest in sea power projection, and warships are at its heart.
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