Herne XLAUV: White board to water in 11 months

By Sam Cranny-Evans, published on 27th November, 2024. 

BAE Systems has demonstrated its Herne XLAUV (extra large autonomous underwater vehicle) in the South of England, taking the design from whiteboard to water in just 11 months, according to a 25th November BAE press release. 

The Herne XLAUV conducted a pre-programmed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission powered by BAE’s Nautomate, an autonomous military control system. The demonstrator was built in partnership with Canadian company Cellula Robotics to help protect underwater infrastructure, support anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and provide another means to undertake covert surveillance missions. 

“Herne is a game changer in the underwater battlespace. It will give our customers a cost effective autonomous capability that will allow for a wide range of missions, end the reliance on crewed platforms, keeping people out of harm’s way and boosting endurance,” Scott Jamieson, Managing Director of BAE Systems’ Maritime Services business said. 

The XLAUV will undertake additional trials following user feedback, the press release states, adding that the design can be updated as required through open architecture plug-ins. 

Tech profile: Herne XLAUV

The Herne XLAUV is designed to be launched and recovered in several ways, including from a harbour arm or larger vessel. It has an agnostic design meaning that different sensors including towed-array sensors, radar, and electro-optical surveillance systems can be fitted. It will be able to deploy its own underwater autonomous vehicles, depth charges, and other underwater weapons. It is controlled using BAE’s Nautomate, which is a platform agnostic control system for autonomous platforms that can be used on vessels from 6 m to 50 m. It can be retrofitted to old platforms or built in, as is the case for the Herne XLAUV. 

Calibre comment

An XLAUV offers different capabilities to a crewed submarine as it does not need to carry any life support systems or crew, meaning it can stay submerged for much longer without having to surface. This means it can provide more persistent surveillance of critical areas that might be home to adversary submarines. One goal of many navies is to develop a network of autonomous passive and active sensors operating above and below the surface of the water to detect submarines. This vision works towards the concept of a ‘transparent ocean,’ which is likely an over-ambitious title. However, the idea may prove valuable in tracking Russian submarines given the limited quantity of ASW assets available to NATO forces.

A network of systems like the Herne XLAUV offers the promise of persistent, wide area surveillance. Providing that the outputs of those sensors can be integrated and fused into a single operational picture, it could offer a meaningful increase in mass that makes tracking more efficient. However, there are many things yet to be worked out with autonomous underwater vehicles, such as how they respond if detected, and the methods for transmitting the data that they gather.