This means that your countermeasures and detection technologies have to be able to keep with the pace of these new capabilities.

The fact is that these platforms are continually evolving and new subsea platforms designs will soon be operational. To complicate matters further, the environment is almost the perfect blend of protection measures for potential foes where they benefit from cover from subsea terrain and noise, as well as naturally occurring fauna, animals and debris.Ĭoupled with the fact that threats could range from anything from a sole diver to a large UUV, this makes detection and classification a seemingly insurmountable challenge leaving your vessels, assets and crews extremely vulnerable to attacks.Īlthough there is still no clear evidence of UUVs taking an offensive role in underwater conflicts, this does not mean that navies can rest on their laurels. Uncrewed platforms in the underwater domain present an entirely new set of difficulties for friendly forces. Should the development of these UUV platforms reflect even half the pace at which aerial drones evolved, it becomes critical that allied forces are fore armed with the technologies and expertise they need to counter these threats. New actors are quickly emerging including autonomous uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs), which bring an entirely new challenge to your subsea defence operations. It doesn’t stop there, it is quickly becoming evident that the underwater space is no longer solely the domain of large, crewed submarine platforms. These threats have evolved quickly, and forces have had to ensure they have the agility to respond in time.

So much so that allied forces are working against the clock to deliver countermeasures facing up to a vast range of platforms, from small, homemade devices to large, sophisticated uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms. Ioseba Tena, commercial director at Forcys, outlines some of the key factors those in the maritime sector should consider.ĭrones have changed the shape of recent conflicts. Credit: ForcysĮmerging uncrewed threats in the underwater domain bring new challenges for port and littoral security. The Sentinel acoustic monitoring system is capable of detecting and subsurface threats.

Insurmountable challenge