Kongsberg designs Arctic Hunter drone ship for up to 60 days at sea without a crew

Kongsberg Maritime's Arctic Hunter uncrewed surface vessel is being designed to spend up to 60 days at sea with no one aboard, Bruce Balchin of Kongsberg Maritime told TWZ. The design is aimed at the Royal Navy's Type 92 requirement for autonomous ships that hunt submarines in the North Atlantic and the High North.

Balchin said the ship uses an existing 184-foot hull design from an Arctic fishing vessel, with the wheelhouse and fish-processing factory removed to make room for mission systems and remote-operation equipment. It will tow the Sonar 2087 array made by Thales Underwater Systems, and Kongsberg has shaped the hull and propeller to cut underwater noise.

Its remote-operation system comes from Kongsberg's Reach Remote uncrewed offshore vessels, which already work for about 30 days at a time, with military communications added. Balchin called the first version a “minimum viable capability” that could operate as an uncrewed flotilla sending sonar data to the United Kingdom, and later work alongside Type 26 frigates.

Kongsberg is working with Balaena Maritime, which would build the vessels at its Birkenhead yard, and is also offering the design for export with other countries' sonar and communications, Balchin said.