The vessel, called Herne, is what is known as an extra-large autonomous underwater vehicle (XLAUV) and has been configured by BAE Systems to enable militaries to monitor and help protect underwater infrastructure across the vast expanses of the seabed, support anti-submarine warfare, and provide another means for them to undertake covert surveillance missions.
The trials earlier this month saw the craft conduct a pre-programmed intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance mission powered by Nautomate, the Company’s platform-agnostic high, specification autonomous military control system. This follows successful trials of the technology on a surface vessel earlier this year.
“Herne is a game changer in the underwater battlespace. It will give our customers a cost-effective autonomous capability that will allow for a wide range of missions, end the reliance on crewed platforms, keeping people out of harm’s way, and boosting endurance,” stated Scott Jamieson, Managing Director of BAE Systems Maritime Services business
Able to be fitted to existing or newbuild vessels, Nautomate gives users a cost-effective option to boost their autonomous capabilities, allowing them to operate with greater scale, endurance, and persistence whilst removing the need for human crews to operate in arduous or dangerous conditions. This can free up skilled personnel to focus on the tasks where people add the most value.
An added benefit of underwater autonomy is that, without the need to resupply or carry life support systems, Herne will be able to patrol the subsurface domain for far longer than a crewed alternative.
It can also be upgraded as new technology or ways of working evolve by using open architecture mission plug-ins.
BAE Systems collaborated with Canadian company Cellula Robotics to deliver the demonstrator configuration of Herne XLAUV. This successful collaboration resulted in a “whiteboard to water” capability in just 11 months, demonstrating the pace at which BAE Systems can deliver Herne and other autonomous maritime capabilities.
Now that the technology has been successfully demonstrated, the BAE Systems team will continue to refine Herne with further trials, depending on customer requirements.
