Iran war drives urgent need to counter underwater drones

The UK and US are looking for technology to counter the threat posed by underwater drones to ships, harbors and other critical maritime infrastructure, and are asking industry for answers. News of the AUV tender comes against the backdrop of the US deploying uncrewed drone boats around Iran as the conflict heats up. Iran is believed to be behind at least two explosive-laden sea drone attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf since the US and Israel first attacked Iran on February 28. The first drone attack reportedly took place on March 1, about 44 nautical miles off ​Oman, and the second, on March 5, hit a Bahamas-flagged crude oil tanker near the Iraqi port of Khor Al Zubair. Iran is known to possess – and use – autonomous underwater vehicles in conflicts dating back two years. Specifically, Iran was spotted shipping torpedo-like drones and "one-way attack" underwater drones to Houthi rebels in Yemen in 2024. These are small but experts suspect they can inflict "significant damage on ships." According to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the US Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has kicked off a competition that allows companies of all sizes to pitch technology directly to them, under a program called REEF (Robotic Exclusion and Engagement Framework). This is a bilateral scheme operated jointly by the US and UK. American and British teams will assess submissions with the aim of identifying potential defense solutions for both parties. British companies can apply, with solutions assessed by jHub, the innovation team of the MoD's Cyber & Specialist Operations Command, for potential UK defense use. While the Iran war isn't specifically mentioned, the reason behind this call for solutions is the general threat posed by drones, specifically uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs), which are the subsea equivalent of airborne attack drones. Ukraine is also instrumental in showing the potential danger from these weapons. Last year, the country's armed forces claimed they struck and disabled a Russian Kilo-class submarine that was docked in Novorossiysk harbour on the Black Sea coast. While independent sources said it was difficult to verify if the submarine had been badly damaged, the quay wall it was docked at did show an area of heavy damage in satellite images. The drone that carried out this attack was referred to as "Sub Sea Baby," which may just be a new name for an existing Marichka kamikaze UUV, according to some sources. This is about 6 m (20 ft) long and able to carry a payload of about one ton, with a range of up to 1,000 km (621 miles). Britain also has underwater drone projects on the go, such as BAE Systems' Herne , officially known as an extra-large autonomous underwater vehicle (XLAUV), and the similar-sized Excalibur . These are not one-way suicide drones, but Herne in particular can carry a range of mission-specific payloads, which could include depth charges or other weapons. On a rather different scale is the Russian " Poseidon " weapon. Sometimes described as a torpedo, this is 20 m (65 ft) long, has a range of 10,000 km (6, 213 miles) and is armed with a nuclear warhead to totally destroy ports and even coastal cities. With REEF, the US and UK are seeking solutions addressing four areas: sensors; counteraction technologies; communications; and command and control systems. Sensors must detect, track, and classify underwater threats, even in challenging environments, with the ability to distinguish genuine threats from natural contacts to reduce false alarms. The counteraction or defeat capabilities could be kinetic, meaning they physically strike the UUV directly or use something like acoustic directed energy. However, both the UK and US say they are interested in decoy systems to confuse hostile underwater craft. Security boffins scoured the web and found hundreds of valid API keys Forget drones – the US Army just took delivery of a self-flying Black Hawk helicopter The drone swarm is coming, and NATO air defenses are too expensive to cope Flying cabs, next-gen aircraft cleared for takeoff in 26 states For communications, solutions are expected to deliver secure data transmission for near real-time sensor-level visibility. This can be tricky if it involves underwater communication with something like a defensive UUV or an anti-drone torpedo, but there are some technologies available, as The Register has covered here and here . Finally, there is the requirement for a Common Operating Picture (COP), meaning technologies that can integrate tracking and sensor data with existing command and control (C2) systems. These are deployed to provide suggestions to the user via AI decision-making assistance, and must explain why a particular action is recommended. The competition is being run and managed by the US DIU , and it says vendors are welcome to submit proposals for any components they think they can satisfy, or a complete solution. But interested parties had better get their skates on, as the deadline to submit ideas for the challenge is April 3. ® × Narrower topics DJI United States Naval Research Laboratory