Kongsberg Maritime unveiled the Kongsberg Arctic Hunter Royal Navy USV, a 56-metre uncrewed vessel proposed for the Royal Navy's Type 92 programme. If selected, Balaena Maritime would build it at Birkenhead.
The vessel is designed for missions lasting up to 60 days from a forward support base inside the Arctic Circle. Kongsberg says trained personnel in a shore-based Remote Operations Centre would supervise and control key maritime functions while military effects remain under human control.
Type 92 and Atlantic Bastion
Type 92 forms part of Atlantic Bastion, the Royal Navy plan to combine crewed platforms with uncrewed sensors to detect and track hostile submarines. Arctic Hunter is meant to add persistent ASW sensing alongside crewed ships and other assets, using space on deck for additional or alternative mission systems as requirements develop.
That approach fits a programme still moving through concept and assessment phases. The Ministry of Defence said in July that platform numbers and construction schedules for Type 92 had not been determined, so the unveiling adds a candidate design without settling the wider procurement choice.
Birkenhead and Thales UK
Kongsberg Maritime is working with Thales UK on sonar and secure military communications, and with Balaena Maritime on shipbuilding. The partners say the design is based on an existing commercial vessel developed for Arctic operations, which is the part of the proposal that gives it a head start on a military-specific build.
But the approvals Kongsberg cites from DNV and the Norwegian Maritime Authority cover the commercial technology being offered, not a completed Arctic Hunter military configuration. That distinction leaves the vessel as a proposal with a vetted base platform, not a finished warfighting system.
Oslo conference timetable
Technology collaboration agreements are due to be signed during the Atlantic Future Forum in Oslo. Kongsberg and its partners are targeting readiness for militarisation and operational deployment by the end of the decade, subject to Royal Navy requirements, and Arctic Hunter could also form part of the UK-Norway Lunna House agreement.
For the Royal Navy, the practical question is whether Type 92 will take this route or another one. Arctic Hunter is now on the table; the selection decision is still ahead.
