Britain is building a hybrid fleet based on Ukraine's experience – Naval News

The United Kingdom has officially set a course toward creating a hybrid fleet that will combine traditional ships with unmanned and autonomous systems, following Ukraine’s successes in the war in the Black Sea. 

First Sea Lord and Chief of the Royal Navy Staff Gwyn Jenkins provided details on the Royal Navy’s new concept during the Defence Leaders Combined Naval Event, according to Naval News.

 The new model calls for integrating manned ships, maritime drones, autonomous underwater systems, and aviation platforms into a single combat structure to increase the fleet’s power, resilience, and flexibility at the same cost. British commanders believe that the traditional approach of relying on a small number of expensive and highly versatile ships is gradually losing its effectiveness, so the future belongs to distributed forces with cheaper and mass-produced unmanned platforms.

Gwyn Jenkins emphasized that the British plan to adapt Ukraine’s combat experience for the North Atlantic and the Arctic region, taking into account a potential confrontation with Russia. According to him, modern warfare is changing rapidly due to the development of autonomous systems, so the Royal Navy is ready for change and has no time to indulge proponents of old approaches. The concept of a hybrid fleet has already been tested during special exercises, where the new format demonstrated a significant increase in firepower, the effectiveness of air and missile defense, as well as response speed. The United Kingdom has historically been considered one of the world’s leading benchmarks of naval power, so the direct acknowledgment of the influence of Ukrainian experience on the reform of the Royal Navy is of particular significance.