Overview
- Last week Britain and the United States test-fired a heavyweight torpedo from the Royal Navy’s 12‑metre XV Excalibur in UK waters, the first time either country has launched a torpedo from an uncrewed undersea vessel.
- The heavyweight torpedo was developed jointly by the US and Australia and is designed to target surface ships and deep‑diving submarines.
- XV Excalibur is a roughly 19‑tonne uncrewed submarine built by MSubs in Plymouth that can be operated remotely from thousands of miles away and is assigned to the Royal Navy’s Fleet Experimentation Squadron for trials.
- UK officials say the test advances the AUKUS goal of interoperable autonomous and AI systems and is intended to help protect seabed infrastructure such as cables and pipelines while strengthening NATO’s undersea deterrent against hostile maritime activity.
- Excalibur remains experimental and will continue sea trials over coming years to work out how large uncrewed vessels operate alongside crewed submarines, a change that could ease pressure on manned subs and alter how the UK defends critical undersea networks.