Royal Navy accelerates hybrid fleet plan with autonomous vessels
The Royal Navy is accelerating its shift to a hybrid fleet of crewed and autonomous platforms. First Sea Lord General Gwyn Jenkins said the transformation is intended to increase mass, survivability and lethality, not replace existing warships. The plan comes as Britain faces tight funding, limited personnel growth and pressure to expand maritime coverage before the risk of wider conflict rises.
Jenkins set out the programme around three Atlantic lines of effort: Bastion, Shield and Strike. Atlantic Bastion addresses Russian submarine and surface activity in the North Atlantic, where the Royal Navy said it had to respond dozens of times in 2025. The programme will build a layered sensor network using uncrewed underwater and surface systems, with the first uncrewed gliders due to enter the water for Bastion trials this year.
The Royal Navy also released findings from a new wargaming effort launched in October 2025 to test hybrid fleet concepts. Its first navy-wide wargame, held at Southwick Park in March 2026, tested assumptions across carrier strike, continuous at-sea deterrent protection, amphibious operations and integrated air and missile defence. According to the results presented, missile capacity rose threefold and the probability of mission success improved markedly, giving the service a firmer basis for procurement arguments even as the assumptions behind the modelling remain critical.
Jenkins confirmed that 20 Kraken uncrewed surface vessels have been delivered under Project Beehive and assigned to 47 Commando Royal Marines for training and operations. He set a two-year target for the first large uncrewed surface vessel to sail with Royal Navy warships and said a jet-powered uncrewed air system would launch from a carrier within the next 12 months; a separate LUSV demonstrator of more than 24 metres under the Future Air Dominance System programme is expected to move to contract by September 2026, with operational trials planned for 2027. Jenkins also advanced a Northern Navies multinational maritime force with Joint Expeditionary Force partners, aimed at shared platforms, logistics, doctrine and command, a move that could let allied fleets add sensors, weapons and resilience faster than conventional shipbuilding alone can deliver.