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The UK has joined the small club of militaries with an unmanned vessel system in front-line service. Ukraine's navy is built on unmanned systems; the U.S. Navy uses unmanned vessels for surveillance missions in the Arabian Gulf; and now, the Royal Navy has accepted its long-awaited crewless minesweeping system into service. <\/p>\n
The UK is sunsetting its manned mine countermeasures vessels and transferring the responsibilities to new unmanned-vessel units. One of the capabilities in the portfolio is a system-of-systems called SWEEP – an uncrewed surface vehicle that tows a combination of three sophisticated minesweeping systems on small pontoon floats. Atlas UK developed the package in conjunction with UK Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S). The first system was scheduled for delivery in 2022, with an extensive period of operational evaluation to follow. <\/p>\n
The Royal Navy says that SWEEP can fool high-end digitally-controlled sea mines into detonating, eliminating the threat before a manned vessel – a warship, merchant ship or submarine – comes anywhere near the minefield. <\/p>\n
“The portable, flexible system is vital to protecting ships from modern mine threats, operated remotely from land or sea, it will keep our sailors out of danger and will restore a minesweeping capability the Royal Navy has lacked since 2005," said Jonathan Reed-Beviere, Mine Hunting Capability Programme Director for the Royal Navy. <\/p>\n