A new defence factory in Plymouth has begun producing AI-enabled submarine-hunting drones, marking a major expansion of Britainā€™s undersea surveillance capabilities.
- European tech firm Helsing opened its 18,000-square-foot Resilience Factory to mass-produce the SG-1 Fathom underwater glider, with Defence Secretary John Healey unveiling the site alongside company leaders.
- The compact drone measures just 1.95 metres long, weighs 60kg and can operate for up to three months, allowing hundreds to be deployed at once to monitor vast ocean areas. Its small size enables launch and recovery from commercial or military vessels by only a few crew.
- Production and testing are already underway, with trials taking place at Turnchapel Wharf and Scotlandā€™s BUTEC range. The drones will be paired with Helsingā€™s Lura maritime AI system, which can detect and classify vessels in real time ā€” up to 40 times faster than human operators.
- The SG-1 can patrol in swarms, sit on the seabed, or glide silently through the water column, offering a scalable way to track submarines and protect critical undersea infrastructure.
Helsing says a single operator can manage an entire constellation of drones, boosting resilience for the UK and allied navies.