Royal Navy Accepts Mine Countermeasures ‘Mothership’ With Surface, Underwater Drones

Published on April 15, 2024



The UK Royal Navy has received a Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) ship that will host unmanned surface and underwater systems to secure British waters against mine threats.

Named RFA Stirling Castle, the vessel is part of the Defense Equipment and Support’s (DE&S) Mine Hunting Capability program which seeks to adopt modern autonomous solutions into the navy’s mine countermeasures units.

The platform will employ “innovative” technologies to localize, identify, and defeat mines and other sub-surface explosives in addition to critical data gathering and analysis tasks.

Furthermore, the ship will have mechanisms to prepare, store, and launch drones and boats for mine warfare and hydrographic survey missions.

Stirling Castle will leverage a remote command center that can be installed onboard to assist the vessel in command and control of autonomous systems.

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