Royal Navy fits ship with advanced minehunting drones ahead of possible Hormuz deployment

The Royal Navy is preparing to equip 1 of its landing ships pinch precocious minesweeping drones, arsenic ministers research options to facilitate nan reopening of nan Strait of Hormuz. RFA Lyme Bay is slated for a refit that will merge high-tech equipment, transforming it into a "mothership" tin of deploying some underwater drones and crewless minehunting boats.

This upgrade is understood to beryllium cardinal to nan Navy's strategy for utilising autonomous minehunters to clear nan captious Strait of Hormuz, should specified an cognition go necessary. The UK is presently collaborating pinch world friends to create subject plans for re-establishing entree done nan strait, a captious shipping artery for world lipid and state supplies that has been efficaciously blockaded by Tehran.

Donald Trump had antecedently urged friends to dispatch warships to nan region to assistance successful reopening nan strait, though Western nations person frankincense acold refrained from doing so. Any imaginable deployment of RFA Lyme Bay to nan strait is not anticipated until nan volatile business stabilises, pinch nan existent threat posed by Iranian drones and missiles considered excessively significant.

A defence root said: “Whilst nary decisions person yet been taken connected whether these capabilities will beryllium sent to nan Strait of Hormuz, this preventative measurement gives ministers options should they beryllium needed to thief resume nan normal travel of merchant shipping.”

Part of nan Royal Fleet Auxiliary, RFA Lyme Bay is chiefly a landing and carrier vessel and has antecedently been utilized to present humanitarian assistance successful nan Caribbean and nan Middle East.

The vessel had been undergoing regular attraction successful Gibraltar, but was brought to a heightened authorities of readiness pursuing nan outbreak of nan Iran warfare and has been undertaking training drills successful nan Mediterranean successful caller days.

It is understood that nan determination to equip nan vessel pinch anti-mine instrumentality followed a reassessment of nan consequence that civilians would person to beryllium evacuated from Lebanon, pursuing a crushed penetration by Israeli forces.

It besides follows nan presence of nan destroyer HMS Dragon successful nan eastbound Mediterranean to assistance successful defending Cyprus from imaginable rocket and drone attacks.

Until nan opening of 2026, nan Royal Navy had a imperishable minehunting beingness successful nan Middle East, based successful Bahrain.

But nan past of those vessels, HMS Middleton, was withdrawn from nan region soon earlier nan outbreak of warfare for maintenance.

General Sir Gwyn Jenkins, nan First Sea Lord, said nan conversion of RFA Lyme Bay to a minehunting “mothership” was “a cleanable illustration of really we are building a hybrid navy – 1 wherever crewed ships and cutting-edge uncrewed systems activity together seamlessly to support our group safe and our seas secure”.

The ship’s commanding officer, Captain Mark Colley, said: “I americium proud of nan activity my ship’s institution has done to hole RFA Lyme Bay, and beryllium fresh to embark this kit.

“Having precocious returned to precocious readiness, we person been put done our paces but I cognize we are fresh to support this autonomous uncrewed kit truthful arsenic to play an important domiciled successful its use.”