British engineers demonstrate UK’s first extra XL-AUV

A team of British engineers based in Portsmouth has successfully demonstrated a new type of autonomous submarine, developed specifically for military use, off the south coast of England.

The vessel, called Herne, is what is known as an Extra Large Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (XL-AUV) and has been configured by BAE Systems to enable militaries to monitor and help protect underwater infrastructure across the seabed, support Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) and provide another means to undertake covert surveillance.

Trials in November saw the craft conduct a pre-programmed Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) 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, the company says.

“Herne is a game changer in the underwater battlespace,” said Scott Jamieson, Managing Director of BAE Systems’ Maritime Services business. “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.”

Able to be fitted to existing or new-build vessels, Nautomate gives users a cost effective option to boost their autonomous capabilities, says BAE Systems, 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 most value, the company adds.

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 sub surface domain for far longer than a crewed alternative.

The XL-AUV 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 XL-AUV. This 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, says the company.

Now that the technology has been successfully demonstrated, the BAE Systems team will continue to refine Herne with further trials, depending on customer requirements, it adds.