The Royal Navy has quietly executed a strategic pivot in the Indo-Pacific, formalising a trilateral underwater drone alliance with the United States and Australia. This is not a mere technical exercise. It is a force multiplier designed to counter Chinese submarine dominance in the South China Sea.
The UK's Defence Secretary has confirmed the new programme, codenamed 'Project Kracken', will field autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) capable of mine countermeasures and intelligence gathering. The hardware is clear: the US will supply the Orca XLUUV, Australia will provide sonar and integration expertise, and the UK will contribute its advanced torpedo defence systems. This is a threat vector that Beijing will have to recalibrate for.
The logistics of sustaining a trans-pacific submarine fleet have always been a weak point for the UK. Now, with these unmanned platforms, the Royal Navy can persist in the region without the same logistical footprint. But let's not ignore the intelligence failures that led to this alliance.
The UK's ability to monitor undersea cables and rival submarine movements has been eroded over the past decade. This partnership is a direct admission of that capability gap. In strategic terms, the UK is no longer a independent peer; it is leveraging US and Australian industrial capacity to maintain relevance.
The cost? The Treasury will need to find billions in the next defence review. If it fails, this pivot will be a paper tiger.
The chess move here is clear: Putin and Xi now have to treat the Indo-Pacific as a three-nation threat, not a one-nation nuisance. And for the UK, this is the most significant deployment of naval assets east of Suez since the 1970s. The difference now is that it is underwater, automated, and asymmetric.
The enemy has been warned.
