Britain Fired A Torpedo From An Underwater Drone For The First Time

• 22.09.2026, 9:46

This weapon is designed to engage ships and deep-diving submarines.

The British military has fired a heavy torpedo from an unmanned underwater vehicle for the first time, according to the newspaper The i Paper.

The torpedo was launched in British territorial waters from the U.S. Navy’s 12-meter unmanned underwater vehicle “Excalibur.” This weapon, jointly developed by the U.S. and Australia, is designed to engage ships and deep-diving submarines.

The test was conducted by the United Kingdom and the United States as part of the AUKUS defense partnership with Australia, which is developing next-generation submarines, artificial intelligence systems, and unmanned underwater vehicles. This marks the first time a torpedo has been launched from an unmanned underwater vehicle rather than from a conventional manned submarine.

The “Excalibur” unmanned submersible, which is currently undergoing sea trials, was built in Plymouth and can be remotely controlled from a distance of nearly 10,000 miles.

The government called the successful test a “significant breakthrough” for Euro-Atlantic security and NATO’s underwater capabilities.

The United Kingdom is shifting its focus from large and expensive military platforms to the mass deployment of drones, autonomous systems, and accelerated cycles of combat innovation. The government will invest more than £5 billion in combat drones, accelerate their mass production and the integration of AI, and establish a hybrid fleet. As part of a plan to modernize the British Armed Forces, London intends to fund Europe’s largest drone test center and establish a task force for “continuous production scaling” to accelerate the delivery of UAVs to the British military.