The UK government has taken initial steps in developing the Royal Navy’s (RN’s) new anti-submarine warfare (ASW) operational construct for the North Atlantic by issuing a tender notice announcing its intent to publish in the near term an invitation to tender (ITT) for the programme.
The notice, published on 15 October, stated that “The UK Ministry of Defence [MoD] would like to announce the intention to publish an ITT to contract a Commercial Mission Partner(s) (CMP) as part of the RN’s ‘Atlantic Net’ initiative in the near future.”
The notice was issued after a procurement launch event held on the same day, and following on from earlier phases covering market engagement.
“‘Atlantic Net’ will deliver underwater intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) as a service through a contractor-owned, contractor-operated, naval oversight (COCONO) model,” the notice continued. “‘Atlantic Net’ will be data focused, providing information direct to the Maritime Operational Commander ashore to inform decision making.”
Project CABOT is the acquisition programme to meet the requirements set out under ‘Atlantic Net’ and ‘Atlantic Bastion’. ‘Atlantic Net’ is the first phase in a two-phase process within the broader ‘Atlantic Bastion’ ASW concept, which is designed to deliver the RN’s contribution to enhancing NATO capacity to secure the North Atlantic’s underwater domain. As Phase One, ‘Atlantic Net’ will build focused ISR sensing presence and capacity in key parts of the region using uncrewed systems, particularly uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs). Such key regions may include areas like the Greenland-Iceland-UK (GIUK) Gap. Phase Two, ‘Atlantic Bastion’, will see such uncrewed capability integrated with crewed platforms, including the UK’s in-service Astute-class nuclear-powered attack submarines and P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, and the incoming, ASW-focused Type 26 frigates; it will also see the sensing capacity spread further across the North Atlantic region.
Under the ITT, the MoD is searching for two groups of contributors: the CMP, or CMPs (under Lot 1); and, within a potential suppliers’ pool, companies still offering a service or solution that may be of interest even if unsuccessful in securing a CMP contract (Lot 2). With the ITT set to follow swiftly, post-ITT contract awards are (according to the tender notice) estimated for December 2025.
‘Atlantic Bastion’ was revealed formally in the MoD’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR), published in June. Reflecting wider recognition of the growing threat in the underwater domain to national and NATO interests – largely, but not exclusively, from Russia – SDR underlined the important role ‘Atlantic Bastion’ will play in two key contexts: first, as an operational concept for building deterrence and defence against the underwater threat; and second, as a case study of how the RN must and will move to being what SDR referred to as a ‘hybrid navy’, integrating uncrewed systems into its crewed platform-based force structure.
SDR set out three core roles for the UK armed forces: to defend, protect, and enhance UK security; to deter and defend in the North Atlantic; and to shape the global security environment.
‘Atlantic Bastion’ supports all three. However, SDR underscored its ‘Role 2’ contribution.
“‘Atlantic Bastion is the RN’s plan to secure the North Atlantic for the UK and NATO against the persistent and growing underwater threat from a modernising Russian submarine force,” SDR said. “The UK’s ASW capabilities are a central aspect of European defence and are important capabilities with which to meet the alliance’s changing needs.”
Alongside crewed/uncrewed platform integration, SDR summarised the role ‘Atlantic Bastion’ will play in providing a wider threat-sensing capability, using a layered, multidomain sensor network; its links with different stakeholders including other UK military commands and services, UK maritime agencies, commercial partners, and NATO elements; and how key technologies like acoustic sensing enhanced by artificial intelligence and integrated into the MoD’s emerging ‘digital targeting web’ will help accelerate targeting decision-making.
The need to accelerate delivery of capability under ‘Atlantic Bastion’ to strengthen and speed up decision-making reiterate the significance of the threat.
Speaking at the DSEI defence and security exposition in London in September, General Sir Gwyn Jenkins – the RN’s new First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff – said the service was aiming to have its first ‘Atlantic Bastion’ sensors in the water in 2026.
The tender notice and ITT details reflect this time-urgent timeframe.
Gen Jenkins also set out some details of the operational concept for ‘Atlantic Bastion’. “It will provide a formidable underwater defence posture from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to the Norwegian Sea,” he said. “A blend of crewed and uncrewed host platforms will be networked together, but capable of independent operations, creating a ‘system of systems’ that will enable us to find, track, and, if required, act against our opponents, adding both mass and lethality to our already capable submarines, ships, and aircraft in the North Atlantic.”
Naval News Comment
Another element of the notice illustrated the ‘need for speed’ in meeting the underwater threat. Alongside UUVs, the notice made reference to marine patrol vessels and marine research and survey services. Commercial sector capacity and expertise could be a crucial enabler in getting underwater sensing capability to sea quickly, as the sector operates large numbers of marine vessels and UUVs. While ‘Atlantic Bastion’ is ASW focused, commercial companies own much of the critical underwater infrastructure (CUI) that is at risk from Russian underwater assets, so there is overlap between the ASW and CUI sensing requirements. Many civil- and military-focused commercial companies are already recognising the contribution they can make to underwater security.
