Royal Navy Trials Underwater Gliders To Assist Submarine Hunting Operations

The Royal Navy is trialling new underwater gliders that could be used to assist in submarine hunting operations. 

The unmanned Slocum Gliders can provide information on surrounding waters in a matter of hours which would otherwise take months.

According to the Navy, the gliders can "rapidly" send vital information about the sea, including temperature, depth and salinity, in "near real-time".

The conditions of the water can impact the effectiveness of sonar, used by aircraft and ships to track submarines.

Captain Pat Mowatt said:  "We need to know these accurately as we strive to understand more and more about the undersea environment and how this affects the performance of ship and submarine sensors so we can achieve an operational advantage.”

The Navy is trialling the technology off the north west coast of the Outer Hebrides and the intention is to eventually deploy the gliders to high-threat areas.

The gliders can dive down to 1,000 metres, using controlled buoyancy to drive itself to the surface and back down.

They can stay at sea for a number of months, constantly sending data.

Initially, the tests, involving one glider, were due to last four weeks but have now been extended to five months to test its limits on a long-duration mission.

The data collected from the tests is being integrated into ocean forecast models by the Met Office.

Cover image: Library image of the Outer Hebrides, Scotland (Picture: Carl Bruemmer/Design Pics via Zuma/PA).