United Kingdom advances in the development of a maritime defense against massive drone attacks based in autonomous ships, modular launchers and small precision-guided missiles designed for large-scale production. The British company Babcock Internationalalso British ACUA Ocean Technologies and the Estonian Frankenburg Technologies have signed a memorandum of understanding to integrate their respective technologies into a system capable of protecting ships, ports and critical maritime infrastructure. The initiative expands a previously signed agreement between Babcock and Frankenburg to develop a maritime platform against one-way attack drones.
Babcock will provide its experience in defense engineering, systems integration and maritime platform development. The British company will be in charge of joining the different components and will provide modular launcher technologywhich can be installed on manned or unmanned vessels and adapted to different payloads.
Plymouth-based ACUA Ocean Technologies will supply its Pioneer-class autonomous surface vessels. These ships have been designed to remain at sea for long periods and operate without a crew. One of its prototypes completed a navigation of more than 100 hours without manual intervention and managed to operate continuously between 30 and 37 kilometers from the coast.
The company maintains that the stability of the platform will allow keep interceptors and other interchangeable loads operational in heavy seaswhen smaller vessels can exceed their operating limits.
‘The partnership with Babcock and Frankenburg allows us to develop true persistent and multi-domain defense capabilities. To counter massive drone attacksmaritime air defense must operate uninterruptedlybut bad weather conditions often force traditional systems to operate outside their limits,’ explains Neil TinmouthCEO of ACUA Ocean Technologies, in a statement.
Frankenburg Technologies will contribute its low-cost, precision-guided interceptor missilesdeveloped specifically for anti-drone missions. The Estonian company works in the Mark 1a small missile designed to confront drones from the classes I, II and III and to be produced in large quantities through local facilities.
The need for Making each interception cheaper has become one of the main challenges of air defense. Using a conventional missile that costs hundreds of thousands of euros against a much cheaper drone can become unsustainable during numerous and prolonged attacks. The new system aims to create a first line of defense offshore without permanently exposing a crew.
‘Affordable missile defense is moving further into the sea. By equipping ACUA’s unmanned vessels with Frankenburg missiles, designed for mass production, and Babcock launch technology, we aim to create a persistent, low-cost way to protect UK ships, ports and critical maritime infrastructure from mass drone attacks‘, he states Daniel Hallettmanaging director of Frankenburg Technologies in the United Kingdom.
The British role goes beyond hosting two of the participating companies. The system is expressly proposed to protect assets of the United Kingdom and fits into its plans to combine conventional vessels with autonomous platforms. However, this is still an industrial initiative and not an officially contracted program by the British Ministry of Defense.
The companies have not detailed what radars or sensors the system will use, how many missiles each vessel will be able to carry, or when interception tests from the sea will begin. The agreement marks the beginning of the development of this capability, not the presentation of an already operational system.