Royal Navy to replace minehunters with hi-tech robots in £184m 'leap forward' for UK fleet

The automated machines will be launched from larger warships and can be left to their own devices to hunt out deadly underwater threats.

They are expected to replace the navy’s ageing fleet of glass-hulled Sandown and Hunt-class minehunters – many of which are based in Portsmouth.

Naval top brass said the move will revolutionise how the Senior Service operates, while helping to protect personnel from danger.

Defence secretary Ben Wallace said: ‘This £184m contract offers a huge leap forward for the Royal Navy’s autonomous capabilities in the detection and defeat of sea mines.

‘These systems will protect vital shipping lanes, commercial traffic and our personnel from these deadly devices.’

The overhaul is a joint effort by Britain and France and is the first major purchase since Boris Johnson announced a £16.5bn boost to the UK’s defence budget.

The 12-metre long craft are expected to enter service from 2022.

The deal with French firm Thales will support 215 jobs at the defence firm’s sites in Portsmouth, Plymouth, Glasgow, Somerset and Aberdeen.

The multi-million pound investment will fund ‘three sets of minehunting equipment’.

The kit will include an unmanned autonomous vessel, a towable sonar sensor and a ‘mine neutralisation system’ that destroys deadly ordnance from a safe distance.

‘This next-generation mine hunting capability is designed to potentially replace conventional crewed mine hunting vessels, such as the Royal Navy’s Hunt and Sandown class ships, with autonomous systems,’ the Royal Navy said.

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Admiral Tony Radakin, Britain’s First Sea Lord, said the kit would help revoluntise how the navy could protect key shipping lanes like the Gulf.

‘I am enormously excited by the potential of the future minehunting capability,’ he added. ‘This will allow us to deliver minehunting more effectively, more efficiently and more safely, and to integrate even more closely with our French counterparts in this important area.’

The role is not expected to cost any jobs among the navy’s elite team of divers.

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