As part of the UK’s Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Spearhead programme, a collaboration between the Royal Navy, the defence industry, and research organisations has delivered three autonomous testbed platforms to enhance underwater and aerial operations and support AUKUS partnerships.
The 20-tonne CETUS, one of the largest unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), began trials with the Royal Navy in February 2025. The £15.4 million, 12-metre UUV has been developed by the Royal Navy in partnership with Plymouth-based MSubs Ltd, whose UUV hull designs are based on its manned submersibles, enabling most systems and components to be housed within the pressure hull.
Project SCYLLA is a submarine-launched autonomous system conducting ASTUTE-class integration trials to support AUKUS seabed warfare objectives. The vehicle is designed to be launched, then to conduct missions autonomously and recover into a submarine torpedo tube, enhancing submarine capabilities without requiring platform modifications. The platform supports AUKUS Pillar 2 objectives by providing submarines with deployable autonomous vehicles capable of seabed warfare, intelligence operations, and covert surveillance missions.
The aerial Spearhead platform is the Leonardo PROTEUS, a 3-tonne autonomous rotary platform serving as a testbed for autonomy and mission modularity, initially focusing on sonobuoy deployment and communications relay. Developed under a £60 million programme, future capabilities will expand beyond sonobuoy operations to include logistics support, search-and-rescue coordination, and maritime surveillance. The first flight of the PROTEUS autonomous helicopter took place at Prendennack Airfield in Cornwall on 16 January 2026. It is designed to operate alongside manned platforms as part of a future Royal Navy “hybrid air wing.” With a payload bay capable of carrying up to a tonne of equipment, a future autonomous helicopter like PROTEUS could perform additional missions, including airborne surveillance and control, search and rescue, logistics resupply for ground forces, weapon delivery, and intelligence gathering.
by David Oliver
