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Britain and US Scramble for New Defense Against Underwater Military Drones Targeting Ports
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Britain and the United States have launched a joint effort to develop systems capable of detecting and destroying uncrewed underwater threats targeting ports, harbors, and other critical maritime infrastructure, according to the UK Defence Journal on March 23.
The initiative, called the Robotic Exclusion & Engagement Framework, or REEF, is structured as a bilateral solicitation involving both governments.
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It is aimed at identifying commercial technologies that can be adapted for defense use as concern grows over autonomous underwater vehicles, remotely operated systems, and semi-submersibles that could be used against military and civilian assets.
The requirement covers the full detect-track-classify-defeat chain and calls for systems that combine sensors, edge processing, software, sensor fusion, and interdiction methods.
The focus is on protecting ports and harbors first, while keeping the broader goal of securing critical waterways in view.
Since naval drones now come in different shapes and sizes, instead of a single standard design, manufacturers are developing multiple configurations tailored to different missions, operating environments, payloads, and endurance requirements.
The US Defense Innovation Unit stated in the solicitation that adversaries and non-state actors are “increasingly utilizing autonomous underwater vehicles” and that existing defenses remain “fragmented, expensive, and limited in number.”
It added that the system must provide enough warning time for “human in-the-loop decision-making” so underwater threats can be safely interdicted or neutralized.
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The broader maritime drone challenge is also being shaped by Ukraine’s evolving work on longer-range and underwater platforms.
Ukraine is now moving its naval drone program beyond the Black Sea, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy outlining work on more stable systems built for open-ocean missions.
Speaking in remarks carried by Ukrinform, Zelenskyy framed the effort as the next stage of a program that has already evolved rapidly during the full-scale war.
He noted that Ukraine focused on speed and adaptation, arguing that those advances helped the country push Russia’s fleet away from critical sea lanes.
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