UK's BAE aims to bring autonomous submarine to market by 2026

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's BAE Systems said it was aiming to bring an autonomous submarine to market by 2026, amid interest from countries increasingly worried about underwater threats, following a series of attacks on subsea cables. 

BAE successfully tested its Herne submarine product last year and said at the DSEI arms fair on Tuesday it signed a 10-year deal with Canadian partner Cellula Robotics, with the pair aiming to have a product "market ready" by the end of 2026. 

Herne would be the first autonomous underwater vehicle BAE has taken to market. Scott Jamieson, managing director of BAE Systems Maritime & Land Defence Solutions business, said he was confident BAE could be manufacturing 10-20 of the submarines in 2027. 

"I think there's a lot of interest we've had this week through a number of different countries and delegations," he said on the sidelines of the event, adding that Britain, Middle Eastern and European countries were all potential customers. 

He said many Western navies were conscious of the emerging threat under the sea. The Baltic Sea region, for example, is on high alert after a string of power cable, telecom link, and gas pipeline outages since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

The Herne mini-submarine would be designed to work with traditional submarines, and could support anti-submarine weapons as well as undertake covert surveillance and help protect underwater infrastructure.

Jamieson said while there were already unmanned submarines available to buy, those tended to be for commercial rather than for military customers and were remote-controlled, rather than being fully autonomous. 

"We've got a militarised intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and communication system on board, I think that sets us apart in terms of the combination," he said. 

In a sign of the growth of demand for autonomous systems, BAE also on Tuesday announced a tie-up with U.S. arms giant Lockheed Martin to develop a new uncrewed autonomous air system. 

Jamieson declined comment on how much each one would cost, but said in a presentation that the aim of Herne was to balance affordability with performance.

(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Paul Simao)