Budget · Undersea
UK to lead development of three AUKUS undersea sensor payloads
The Ministry of Defence says the payloads will be available across British, Australian and US uncrewed underwater fleets from 2027.
The UK will lead development and delivery of three sensor payloads for uncrewed underwater vehicles under AUKUS, the Ministry of Defence announced Oct. 27. The ministry says the payloads will be available across all three partners’ uncrewed underwater vehicle fleets from 2027.1
The UK will lead development and delivery of three sensor payloads
AUKUS Pillar 2
a Synthetic Aperture Sonar, a Deployable Anti-Submarine Warfare Sensor and a Deployable Non-Kinetic Effector
The payloads will be available across the three nations’ UUV fleets from 2027
UK Ministry of Defence
Sources
The assignment covers a synthetic aperture sonar, a deployable anti-submarine warfare sensor and a deployable non-kinetic effector. It advances the first AUKUS Pillar 2 signature project, announced in May, giving the UK a defined development role in the partners’ undersea work.1
Breaking Defense reported in May that each partner would initially focus on a different type of effect before jointly developing and producing trilateral payloads and enabling technologies. The outlet also reported a £150 million UK commitment to the project, citing remarks by the UK defence secretary.2 The October ministry release names no supplier, contract or funding amount for the three payloads.1
The announcement rounded off a week of testing and demonstrations at the Maritime Big Play exercise in San Diego. The ministry also named four winners of the AUKUS Maritime Innovation Challenge, who share £3 million to develop capabilities for the command, control and cooperation of undersea systems.1
The ministry intends the payloads to collect detailed underwater information, deploy sensors to detect and classify underwater threats, and generate underwater effects. It says those capabilities will help uncrewed underwater vehicles provide surveillance of large ocean areas and protect underwater infrastructure.1
Sources (2)
- UK Ministry of Defence, "UK sets pace on new undersea sensors to detect threats, as AUKUS partners test advanced kit in San Diego," Oct. 27, 2026 www.gov.uk
- Breaking Defense, "AUKUS partners sign agreement on underwater drones, speed up sub plan," May 30, 2026 breakingdefense.com