Kraken’s Royal Navy USV contract signals next step in crewed-uncrewed integration
Kraken demonstrated its K3 SCOUT at NATO’s first Task Force X exercise. (Photo: Kraken)
The UK Royal Navy’s rapid procurement of uncrewed platforms aligns with the force’s strategic shift towards a fleet better equipped to handle modern threats.
Fareham-based Kraken Technology Group has won a £12.3 million (US$16.42 million) contract with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to deliver 20 advanced modular uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) for the Royal Navy’s (RN) Surface Flotilla (Surflot).
The award is part of the RN’s Project Beehive, an initiative aimed at creating a fleet of experimental vessels for training and development to support the force’s transition towards an integrated crewed-uncrewed ‘Hybrid Navy’.
Project Beehive will deliver a platform to act as a “proving ground for future Hybrid Navy technologies” using the Surflot fleet of USVs, according to the RN, although the vessels will
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