Australia and allies accelerate uncrewed naval capability

The exercise, hosted by the Royal New Zealand Navy’s dive and hydrographic team HMNZS Matataua, involved Royal Australian Navy mine countermeasures personnel conducting expeditionary operations, including beach launch and recovery of REMUS 300 UUVs from littoral craft and training with HII’s Odyssey autonomy mission planning software.

The activity comes as the Royal Australian Navy prepares to introduce REMUS 300 systems into service, providing a significant enhancement to Australia’s ability to detect and respond to underwater threats without placing sailors directly into hazardous mine environments.

The REMUS 300 represents a new generation of modular, portable underwater drones designed for a range of missions, including mine countermeasures, seabed surveys, intelligence collection and maritime surveillance. The system can operate autonomously, carry different payloads and support future mission growth through an open architecture design.

The capability aligns closely with the Royal Australian Navy’s broader transition towards a hybrid fleet model under Project SEA 1200, which is focused on accelerating the development, integration and operational use of maritime autonomous systems.

SEA 1200 has established the Navy’s Maritime Autonomous Systems Unit, bringing together emerging technologies, including the Ghost Shark extra-large autonomous underwater vehicle, Bluebottle uncrewed surface vessel and Speartooth large uncrewed underwater vehicle. The unit is designed to operate autonomous systems from Australian and overseas locations, providing persistent intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and strike options.

The shift reflects a broader transformation in naval warfare, where expensive crewed platforms are increasingly being complemented by fleets of smaller, distributed and autonomous systems capable of operating in contested environments.

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HII’s approach centres on connecting multiple autonomous platforms through a common command-and-control architecture. The company’s Odyssey autonomy system is designed to integrate unmanned underwater and surface systems, enabling collaborative operations between platforms and supporting manned-unmanned teaming.

The REMUS 300 is designed as a highly deployable system, with applications including mine clearance, search and recovery, environmental assessment and intelligence missions. Its modular payload architecture allows operators to tailor the vehicle for different operational requirements, including future surveillance and anti-submarine warfare applications.

For Australia, the introduction of these systems represents a major change in how the Navy approaches maritime security across the Indo-Pacific. Rather than relying solely on traditional minehunters and crewed vessels, autonomous systems provide the ability to distribute sensors across vast areas, increase persistence and reduce risk to personnel.

The development also strengthens regional interoperability, with Australian and New Zealand forces training together on emerging autonomous technologies that will increasingly become central to allied maritime operations.

As naval forces worldwide adapt to lessons from modern conflicts and the rapid growth of autonomous warfare, uncrewed underwater systems are emerging as one of the most important capability shifts in maritime defence – offering a lower-cost, scalable and persistent way to monitor, protect and control the underwater domain.

Stephen Kuper

Steve has an extensive career across government, defence industry and advocacy, having previously worked for cabinet ministers at both Federal and State levels.