WMW affiliate ship, the Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon, is playing a vital role in developing and testing the technologies of tomorrow’s armed forces, resulting in an eventful 12 months.
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The 2020s are set to become one of the defining decades in the history of Britain’s armed forces. While the world was adapting to pandemic-related restrictions, the Royal Marines were putting the tools and technologies behind an extensive restructuring through their paces. The foundations of a commando force underpinned by the latest in communications, weaponry and tactics which are now being utilised on the front line.
HMS Dragon is at the spearhead of that process. Having adapted life on board to include struct Covid-19 control measures, the Type 45 destroyer – emblazoned with the ddraig coch – departed its home port of Portsmouth in September 2020 to join a three-month mission in the Mediterranean. The newly formed Littoral Strike Group, led by Royal Navy flagship HMS Albion, comprised more than 1,000 sailors and Royal Marines, collaboratively testing and new tactics and technologies alongside other armed forces based in the region.
This made for a busy autumn. The fleet touched down – largely for fuel and supplies, due to local restrictions – in Gibraltar days later, with personnel utilising The Rock for training including abseiling from helicopters and urban operations. In the subsequent weeks, crew members carried out back-to-back exercises along the coastal waters of Cyprus and North Africa, using new vehicles, drones, communications and autonomous systems. Each helps to build a clearer picture of the role these technologies will play in future warfare.
However, the mission was equally focused on close working relationships. In October HMS Dragon was dispatched to the Black Sea, arriving at Odesa – the home of the Ukrainian Navy – for a combined diplomatic and training visit, as well as jointly paying respects to the city’s World War Two casualties. Strengthening bonds between allies and partners within the region, the visit included joint patrols alongside Ukrainian, Georgian and Romanian vessels.
By March 2021, HMS Dragon had returned to the English Channel for a three-week period intense training on its home turf. Known as Fleet Operational Sea Training (FOST), this is designed to ensure crew members are prepared for all eventualities during future missions, and the scope is broad.
Personnel were tasked with protecting ‘Freeport’ – a fictitious port for training exercises – from a simulated attack on sea and from the air, intensified the by poor weather conditions that set in this year. Exercises also included intelligence-gathering and readiness testing for on-board scenarios, such as fires, floods and medical emergencies, as well as simulating capabilities when crucial systems such as radar, weapons or communications are unavailable.
The reward was a return to Portsmouth in April, beginning a short maintenance period and reuniting personnel with their loved ones after months at sea.
However, life on board rarely stands still. HMS Dragon is one of two ships trialling new-to-fleet technologies and, by May, it had joined vessels from ten NATO nations - Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the UK and USA for further trials of emerging technologies. Formidable Shield, an international collaboration spanning three weeks, would include some 3,000 personnel, including three Royal Navy warships.
Artificial intelligence is re-shaping the UK’s defence forces just as much as it is a broad range of civilian technologies. The operation included the first tests of AI technology to detect, track, identify and defeat a range of incoming threats and – for the first time – these trials were put to use against live missiles at sea.
Testing was carried out working with the Government’s defence laboratory, Dstl, and R&D partners from Roke, CGI and BAE Systems, focused on two applications for artificial intelligence. ‘Startle’ provides real-time recommendations and alerts to personnel in the operations room, while ‘Sycoiea’ assists operators with recognising incoming missiles, then advises the best weapons to respond to them more quickly than even the most experienced human operator – let alone other computer systems on board.
The results were promising. Dragon’s Sea Viper missiles – a four-metre weapon capable of accelerating to four times the speed of sound in 2.5 seconds – was able to intercept sea-skimming supersonic targets and ballistic weapons falling from the edge of space at up to Mach 8 (more than 6,000mph). After launch, the missiles were also able to relay information back to operators on the ship, which could in turn be passed on to other NATO vessels when co-ordinating a response
It’s a record that’s helping to secure this flag-bearing vessel’s place in Royal Navy history; a technological spearhead in a period of near-constant change, and a close alliance that every member of the Welsh Motoring Writers is proud to maintain.
HMS Dragon is at the spearhead of that process. Having adapted life on board to include struct Covid-19 control measures, the Type 45 destroyer – emblazoned with the ddraig coch – departed its home port of Portsmouth in September 2020 to join a three-month mission in the Mediterranean. The newly formed Littoral Strike Group, led by Royal Navy flagship HMS Albion, comprised more than 1,000 sailors and Royal Marines, collaboratively testing and new tactics and technologies alongside other armed forces based in the region.
This made for a busy autumn. The fleet touched down – largely for fuel and supplies, due to local restrictions – in Gibraltar days later, with personnel utilising The Rock for training including abseiling from helicopters and urban operations. In the subsequent weeks, crew members carried out back-to-back exercises along the coastal waters of Cyprus and North Africa, using new vehicles, drones, communications and autonomous systems. Each helps to build a clearer picture of the role these technologies will play in future warfare.
However, the mission was equally focused on close working relationships. In October HMS Dragon was dispatched to the Black Sea, arriving at Odesa – the home of the Ukrainian Navy – for a combined diplomatic and training visit, as well as jointly paying respects to the city’s World War Two casualties. Strengthening bonds between allies and partners within the region, the visit included joint patrols alongside Ukrainian, Georgian and Romanian vessels.
By March 2021, HMS Dragon had returned to the English Channel for a three-week period intense training on its home turf. Known as Fleet Operational Sea Training (FOST), this is designed to ensure crew members are prepared for all eventualities during future missions, and the scope is broad.
Personnel were tasked with protecting ‘Freeport’ – a fictitious port for training exercises – from a simulated attack on sea and from the air, intensified the by poor weather conditions that set in this year. Exercises also included intelligence-gathering and readiness testing for on-board scenarios, such as fires, floods and medical emergencies, as well as simulating capabilities when crucial systems such as radar, weapons or communications are unavailable.
The reward was a return to Portsmouth in April, beginning a short maintenance period and reuniting personnel with their loved ones after months at sea.
However, life on board rarely stands still. HMS Dragon is one of two ships trialling new-to-fleet technologies and, by May, it had joined vessels from ten NATO nations - Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the UK and USA for further trials of emerging technologies. Formidable Shield, an international collaboration spanning three weeks, would include some 3,000 personnel, including three Royal Navy warships.
Artificial intelligence is re-shaping the UK’s defence forces just as much as it is a broad range of civilian technologies. The operation included the first tests of AI technology to detect, track, identify and defeat a range of incoming threats and – for the first time – these trials were put to use against live missiles at sea.
Testing was carried out working with the Government’s defence laboratory, Dstl, and R&D partners from Roke, CGI and BAE Systems, focused on two applications for artificial intelligence. ‘Startle’ provides real-time recommendations and alerts to personnel in the operations room, while ‘Sycoiea’ assists operators with recognising incoming missiles, then advises the best weapons to respond to them more quickly than even the most experienced human operator – let alone other computer systems on board.
The results were promising. Dragon’s Sea Viper missiles – a four-metre weapon capable of accelerating to four times the speed of sound in 2.5 seconds – was able to intercept sea-skimming supersonic targets and ballistic weapons falling from the edge of space at up to Mach 8 (more than 6,000mph). After launch, the missiles were also able to relay information back to operators on the ship, which could in turn be passed on to other NATO vessels when co-ordinating a response
It’s a record that’s helping to secure this flag-bearing vessel’s place in Royal Navy history; a technological spearhead in a period of near-constant change, and a close alliance that every member of the Welsh Motoring Writers is proud to maintain.
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