The UK Royal Navy is equipping RFA Lyme Bay with uncrewed systems to detect and neutralize naval mines, turning the support ship into a floating hub for autonomous minehunting operations.
The Royal Navy will fit the Bay-class vessel with modular command-and-control equipment and the ability to launch, recover, and coordinate a range of underwater and surface drones.
Installation is underway in Gibraltar, preparing the ship to operate as a “mothership” for autonomous mine countermeasure missions.
Lyme Bay was placed on heightened readiness in recent weeks. The upgrade allows the ship to serve beyond logistics, providing a forward command center for uncrewed minehunting systems.
Officials highlight the plug-and-play design, enabling quick deployment of different drone types depending on operational needs.
Captain Mark Colley, the Commanding Officer of Lyme Bay, said that “the RFA is a crucial support arm of the Royal Navy and being able to act as a mine countermeasures mothership once again shows how we can adapt to the operational demand where needed.”
UK Expands Autonomous Minehunting Fleet
Lyme Bay’s upgrade is part of a broader push to modernize the Royal Navy’s mine countermeasure capabilities.
The service has taken delivery of its first end‑to‑end autonomous minehunting system from Thales Group, marking a significant milestone in the shift from crewed mine countermeasure ships to unmanned systems.
The system, delivered in March 2025 under a joint program with France, includes an unmanned surface vessel equipped with artificial intelligence for automatic target recognition, advanced towed sonar, a remotely operated vehicle, and a lightweight operations center to enable safer, remote mine detection and neutralization.
Later in December 2025, Thales secured another contract from the UK Ministry of Defence to develop portable autonomous command centers that will link surface and subsurface uncrewed systems under a unified, AI‑enhanced control architecture.
These command centers, valued initially at 10 million pounds ($13.5 million) with potential expansion up to 100 million pounds ($135 million), aim to streamline planning and execution of autonomous minehunting missions across multiple platforms.
