BAE Systems announced at DSEI 2023 on 12 September that, in a collaboration with Canadian subsea specialist Cellula Robotics, it would put its Herne Extra Large Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (XLAUV) technology demonstrator in the water in September 2024.
The Herne XLAUV is a militarised version of Cellula Robotics’ 12 m-long Solus-XR that will ‘test the brains’ of BAE’s concept for an XLAUV. The trials will take place at a facility on the south coast of England.
Murray Thomson, chief technologist for underwater systems at BAE, noted at a presentation at DSEI 2023, “Arming AUVs is a minefield – forgive the pun – so we are thinking about it, growing the groundwork for how we do this properly. The thing we are demonstrating is the mission autonomy.”
The vast majority of the Herne XLAUV’s initial payload will be for basic navigational purposes and mission autonomy, said Thomson. He added that the purpose of the trials is to achieve a minimum viable product (MVP) that BAE can then use to have discussions with potential clients.
The initial focus of the technology demonstrator will be to showcase BAE Systems’ advanced autonomous underwater capabilities in the context of an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) scenario. Looking further ahead, however, the capability is envisaged as being also able to address missions such as anti-submarine warfare and electronic warfare.
Although the Herne XLAUV is expected to have an endurance on lithium-ion batteries of six to seven days, depending on the payload, Thomson said BAE Systems is looking at range-extension options, such as hydrogen fuel cells, as well as different ways in which the AUV can generate its own electricity from its surroundings.
In terms of cost, Thomson said the Herne XLAUV needs to be ultimately attritable, meaning that the aim is to provide an AUV that is 1% or less the cost of a conventional submarine.
Scott Jamieson, managing director of maritime systems for BAE Systems, noted at DSEI 2023 that “more and more countries are putting submarines in the water” and that events such as the attacks on the Nordstream pipelines in September 2022 demonstrated the need to protect critical underwater infrastructure.
“The need to make sense of the underwater environment is paramount,” he said, while noting that this is “clearly an area of significant technical challenges”.
Peter Felstead
