Norway's Kongsberg Maritime proposes 10 Arctic Hunter USV drone ships to help UK Royal Navy track Russian submarines.

Norway's Kongsberg Maritime and Thales UK formalized a partnership on November 11, 2026, to propose the 56-meter Arctic Hunter uncrewed surface vessel (USV) for the British Royal Navy's Type 92 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) program. The proposed 10-vessel flotilla adapts a commercial Arctic fishing-trawler hull with Norwegian autonomous control architecture, Thales Sonar 2087 towed-array sensors, and secure communications to monitor submarine movements through the Bear Gap between Norway and Svalbard. Constructed by Balaena Maritime at Birkenhead at a planned rate of three to four hulls annually to target initial deployment before 2030, the 60-day endurance platform is designed to support the Royal Navy's Atlantic Bastion surveillance network while freeing crewed Type 26 frigates for higher-end missions.

Kongsberg Maritime, Thales UK, and British shipbuilder Balaena Maritime have partnered to propose the Arctic Hunter, a 56-meter uncrewed surface vessel (USV), for the British Royal Navy's Type 92 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) program. (Picture source: Kongsberg Maritime)

Key tactical insights

• Platform & Endurance: Based on a 56-meter (184-foot) commercial trawler design with modified hulls and propellers to lower acoustic signatures, the uncrewed vessel is designed for 60-day (1,440-hour) autonomous patrols without onboard crew.

• Sensors & Autonomy: Kongsberg Maritime provides the vessel architecture and remote-control systems, while Thales UK integrates the Sonar 2087 variable-depth towed-array sonar, secure military communications, and AI-assisted acoustic processing.

• Industrial & Operational Scope: The proposal outlines a 10-vessel flotilla built at Balaena Maritime's Birkenhead shipyard in the UK at a rate of three to four hulls per year, targeting initial deployment before 2030.

• Strategic Role: Operating from a forward base near the Bear Gap between Norway and Svalbard, the vessels would conduct persistent acoustic surveillance under the Royal Navy's Hybrid Navy and Atlantic Bastion concepts, relaying contact data to crewed Type 26 frigates, submarines, and P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. The collaboration remains an industry proposal rather than a formal Royal Navy procurement contract.

On November 9, 2026, Norway's Kongsberg Maritime introduced the Arctic Hunter, a 56-meter uncrewed anti-submarine warfare (ASW) vessel proposed for the British Royal Navy's Type 92, an emerging program for a class of uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) dedicated to persistent anti-submarine warfare (ASW) across the North Atlantic and the High North. On November 11, Kongsberg and Thales UK formalized cooperation on the project, integrating Norwegian autonomous vessel-control technology with British acoustic sensors and military communications.

The proposal envisages 10 vessels, which would combine a 60-day endurance with Thales' Sonar 2087 towed-array sonar, operating from an Arctic forward base to monitor submarine movements through the Bear Gap between Norway and Svalbard, with surveillance information transmitted to British naval authorities. Balaena Maritime would construct the hulls at Birkenhead at a proposed rate of three to four annually, targeting an initial operational deployment before 2030. Enshrined in the UK government's June 2026 Defence Investment Plan, the Type 92 is also a cornerstone of the Royal Navy's transition toward a Hybrid Navy, which would supplement the future eight Type 26 frigates by assigning prolonged acoustic surveillance to uncrewed vessels while retaining crewed warships and aircraft for submarine investigation and engagement.

Related topic: UK cancels Type 83 destroyer for new Hybrid Navy concept amid severe personnel shortage crisis

The Arctic Hunter USV uses an existing 56-meter (184-foot) Arctic fishing-trawler design rather than a newly developed military hull, which allows it to use existing machinery spaces, electrical generation capacity, towing arrangements, and an aft working deck already suitable for prolonged sonar deployments in northern waters. Kongsberg intends to remove the wheelhouse, fish-processing factory, and permanent crew facilities, reallocating this internal volume to autonomous controls, fuel, communications, and acoustic-processing equipment. The vessel's hull and propellers are also being modified to reduce underwater radiated noise, including cavitation and machinery vibration that can interfere with passive sonar detection. Kongsberg's previous propeller engineering for Type 23 and Type 26 frigates also provides experience relevant to these latter modifications.

How Arctic Hunter will detect submarines using the Thales Sonar 2087

The design retains commercial shipbuilding methods, but the ASW configuration requires a different balance between propulsion efficiency, acoustic quieting, electrical power, and sustained low-noise operation, while displacement, propulsion power, maximum speed, and fuel capacity are still to be established. The Arctic Hunter's main surveillance equipment is intended to be the Thales Sonar 2087, a low-frequency active and passive variable-depth sonar system already operated by Type 23 frigates and selected for the eight Type 26 frigates. Its variable-depth active component can operate below temperature-dependent acoustic layers, while passive sensors collect submarine propulsion noise, machinery frequencies, and other acoustic characteristics useful for classification.

However, sonar performance also depends on sound-speed profiles, background noise, towing speed, target signature, and the vessel's own acoustic emissions, making the Arctic Hunter's propulsion modifications directly relevant to its detection capability. Thales would also integrate secure communications and acoustic-data processing, potentially incorporating AI-assisted functions from its cortAix portfolio. Unlike Type 26 frigates, which combine the Sonar 2087 with Merlin HM2 helicopters and Sting Ray torpedoes, the Arctic Hunter's initial configuration concentrates on detection and tracking, transmitting contacts to frigates, submarines, or the UK's nine P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft for further investigation. Kongsberg intends to adapt autonomous technology developed for its Reach Remote offshore vessels, which conduct approximately 30-day uncrewed missions with the Reach Subsea, extending the operating period to 60 days, or 1,440 hours.

Its navigation architecture would likely combine waypoint following, route planning, obstacle avoidance, and dynamic positioning using radar, AIS, lidar, and optical sensors, building on Kongsberg's K-Mate control technology. Shore-based operators would supervise navigation, machinery, and sonar operations through satellite and maritime communications, while onboard autonomy would maintain essential vessel functions during connectivity interruptions. Kongsberg also probably brings experience from Yara Birkeland and Massterly's shore-control operations, while its underlying uncrewed offshore technology has received approvals involving DNV and the Norwegian Maritime Authority. Doubling the Reach Remote mission duration to attain the Arctic Hunter's 60-day operating objective would also require longer maintenance intervals and sufficient fuel, electrical generation, machinery reliability, and sonar-handling capacity to operate without permanent onboard engineers. 

Why the Bear Gap is central to Britain's Arctic submarine surveillance plans

The proposed 10-vessel flotilla would concentrate on the Bear Gap, the maritime area extending between Norway's northern coast, Bear Island, and Svalbard, linking the Barents Sea to the Norwegian Sea. This region also permits the surveillance of northern approaches used by Russia's Northern Fleet submarines operating from the Kola Peninsula. Ten vessels completing five 60-day deployments annually would theoretically generate 3,000 vessel-days, equivalent to an average of 8.22 vessels at sea, with 65 days per vessel remaining for maintenance, refuelling, and other activities. If each vessel instead required 90 days annually for maintenance and other activities, theoretical output would fall to 2,750 vessel-days, or 7.53 vessels at sea on average, before deducting transit and sonar downtime.

Furthermore, as commercial Arctic trawlers commonly operate six-week cycles, this means that the Arctic Hunter's 60-day objective extends the comparable operating period by 18 days. However, a forward support facility near the Bear Gap would shorten transit distances compared with operating the vessels from Portsmouth or other British naval bases, while providing fuel, maintenance personnel, spare parts, and facilities for servicing sonar-handling machinery. A regional control center would also supervise navigation and machinery, with British naval authorities retaining control over mission priorities, surveillance sectors, and coordination with crewed ASW forces. The Type 92 forms part of the Royal Navy's Hybrid Navy model alongside Type 91 missile vessels, Type 93 extra-large uncrewed underwater vehicles, and Type 94 radar vessels, a model central to the Atlantic Bastion surveillance concept across the North Atlantic.

How the Arctic Hunter USV fits into the Royal Navy's Hybrid Navy and Atlantic Bastion plans

The future crewed surface force includes eight Type 26 ASW frigates, five Type 31 frigates, and at least six proposed Common Combat Vessels to replace the six Type 45 destroyers. In April 2026, British, Norwegian, and allied forces already conducted a month-long operation tracking a Russian Akula-class nuclear-powered attack submarine and two smaller special-mission submarines near critical seabed infrastructure. For NATO countries, Russian Akula-class submarines threaten naval forces, Yasen-class vessels combine torpedoes with cruise missiles, and specialized underwater vessels create additional surveillance requirements near communications cables and seabed installations.

Subsequently, the Arctic Hunter USV would increase the number of deployed acoustic sensors without committing a Type 26 frigate to each patrol sector, although contact localization and engagement would still require coordination with crewed warships, Astute-class submarines, and P-8A aircraft. The Royal Navy also commissioned its 1st Autonomous Squadron at Portsmouth on November 5, 2026, establishing a 180-person organization divided into two watches to operate uncrewed vessels from shore. Its initial Kraken and Rattler craft support remote-navigation training and operational integration, building on Project Beehive's March 2026 procurement of 20 vessels from Kraken Works. The £10.25 million contract excluding VAT, or £12.3 million including VAT, corresponds to a contract-wide average of £512,500 per vessel before separating associated services and development activities.

Project Beehive runs from March 23, 2026, to March 31, 2027, beginning at Technology Readiness Levels 4-5 and progressively integrating additional capabilities. The wider Hybrid Navy transition includes £1.5 billion over four years within a Defence Investment Plan allocating more than £5 billion to drones and autonomous systems. Type 92 would extend these arrangements from smaller coastal craft to 56-metre ocean-going vessels requiring dedicated acoustic operators, remote machinery supervision, maintenance teams, and Arctic logistics. The proposed industrial arrangement assigns vessel design and autonomy to Kongsberg Maritime, sonar and secure communications to Thales UK, and hull construction at Birkenhead to Balaena Maritime, with commercial shipbuilding followed by military integration.

How Kongsberg and Thales would build Britain's ten Arctic Hunter vessels

At three vessels annually, a 10-vessel flotilla would require 3.33 years of sustained production, compared with 2.5 years at four annually, excluding ramp-up, sonar installation, trials, and acceptance. Construction beginning in early 2027 at four completed hulls annually could theoretically produce the tenth vessel during 2029, although operational entry would depend on the military integration schedule and Royal Navy procurement decisions. The arrangement supports the UK-Norway Lunna House agreement on autonomous maritime systems in the High North, while allowing potential NATO and Joint Expeditionary Force customers to select different sonar and communications equipment.

For Britain, a flotilla averaging eight deployed vessels would generate 2,920 vessel-days annually, but its actual contribution would depend on sonar availability, acoustic conditions, communications reliability, and the ability to transfer submarine contacts to crewed ASW forces. The central Type 92 question is whether those surveillance hours can reduce the continuous patrol burden on the Royal Navy's eight planned Type 26 frigates without reducing the quality or continuity of submarine tracking.

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Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.