UK’s Royal Navy trials autonomous mine hunting capability

The UK’s Royal Navy (RN) has tested an uncrewed small boat, the Apollo, as an autonomous minesweeping and countermeasures option, to avoid putting human sailors at risk.

The Apollo maritime mine counter measure (MMCM) vessel was designed to be deployed from a larger ship, and operated as an autonomous mine hunting tool for the navies of the UK and France through an agreement managed by OCCAR (the Organisation for Joint Armament Co-operation) which represents both nations).

The Apollo was deployed in the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, which has both significant water depth and coastal currents to challenge any vessel. It was launched from Defence Marine Services’ ship SD Northern River.

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The Apollo, manufactured by L3 Harris under a contract with Thales (France), was delivered to the UK as a concept demonstrator in 2021. Following its Scottish trial, the vessel has been returned to Thales for retrofit and upgrades ahead of being transferred back to the Royal Navy in 12 months’ time.

Commander Daniel Herridge, commanding officer of the RN’s Mine & Threat Exploration Group, said the trial was “another step in the paradigm shift of delivering mine counter measures capability in a completely new way”.

Andy Lapsley, mine hunting capability (MHC) team leader at Defence Equipment & Support added: “This trial successfully demonstrated the potential for the maritime mine counter measures capability to be deployed flexibly and at pace for the Royal Navy, demonstrating our commitment to advancing mine counter measures technology and commercial platform integration.”

The trial follows hard on the heels of the RN’s first trial in UK waters of a remotely controlled and autonomous rigid hull boat, the Autonomous Pacific 24. The results of that trial found that the uncrewed vessel could go faster in rougher sea states than a crewed vessel, opening up opportunities for the use of autonomous vessels in scenarios of significant threat.