Royal Navy trials autonomous boats with minehunting mothership

A mine-hunting 'mothership' and autonomous vessels were trialled together for the first time to show that robotic systems could eventually do most of the legwork in mine-clearing operations.

The week-long trials involved the hosting of three autonomous vessels on board RFA Stirling Castle that were remotely piloted from the ship.

The idea behind the trials is that the autonomous and uncrewed equipment will become the norm in mine clearance operations, removing the threat to naval personnel by keeping them well away from the minefield.

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The Royal Navy motor boats Apollo, Hydra and Hazard nipped around the water off the south coast as part of initial loading trials with the 'mothership' RFA Stirling Castle.

RFA Stirling Castle is a recent purchase for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, and will officially join the RFA fleet following a naming ceremony in August.

The trials were carried out alongside partners Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), the procurement arm of the Ministry of Defence.

When RFA Stirling Castle will be operational next month, the ship will launch and recover the autonomous vessels, as well as analyse the data they gather while scouring home waters for mines and underwater explosive devices.

In doing so, the ship and the autonomous boats will begin to replace traditional mine countermeasures vessels, instead exploiting a series of advanced payloads such as towed sonars and remotely-operated neutralisation systems from a Remote Commander Centre.

"These trials mark a key milestone in the delivery of the Royal Navy's Mine Hunting Capability programme," said Rear Admiral Ivan Finn, Director of Navy Acquisition.

"Following her rapid procurement and delivery at the start of the year, RFA Stirling Castle has now embarked on her first autonomous mine countermeasures systems.

"We can now look forward to having Maritime Autonomous Systems permanently embarked and ready for operations over the coming months," RAdm Finn added.