Delivering a coherent and effective ASW posture depends on deploying improved sonar and sensor capabilities across the fleet. In response, the RN is investing in the SPEARHEAD Programme, a seven-year initiative begun in 2019 designed to accelerate ASW technology development and push enhancements rapidly into frontline service.
The programme is divided into two parallel efforts. The first focuses on improving current systems, particularly enhancing the capability of sonars fitted to the Type 23 frigates and Merlin helicopters. The second strand explores the potential of autonomy and uncrewed platforms to supplement traditional methods, beginning with Project CETUS.
CETUS represents a three-year effort to design and build an XLUAV, now embodied in XV Excalibur, developed to test the feasibility of employing large autonomous platforms in an ASW context. The vessel is primarily intended to carry sensor payloads for the detection and tracking of submarines or other XLUAVs.
The RN has long-standing experience with uncrewed underwater systems, particularly in the mine countermeasures and seabed warfare domains. However, these have typically involved smaller UUVs. XV Excalibur marks a significant leap in scale, at 17 tonnes and measuring 12.1m in length, housing a payload bay of 9.5 m3, this offers a step-change in the ability to deploy and recover larger sensors and other payloads from an uncrewed system.
Adversaries are developing their own uncrewed underwater systems and the RN needs to understand where they’re going and what is possible. XV Excalibur is a test and evaluation platform which will help inform project CABOT, launched earlier this year. This will deliver mass, persistence and the digitalisation of the North Atlantic battlespace, part of that work will eventually include the Type 93 XLUAV/Chariot. (Type 9X series are large uncrewed platforms envisioned by the RN, such as the Type 92 sloop and Type 91 missile barge.)
The role of Excalibur is therefore both practical and strategic, allowing the RN to trial operations, develop and integrate payloads, and mature operational concepts, ultimately de-risking the path towards fielding a credible, large-scale uncrewed submarine fleet in the coming decades.
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