US, UK and Australian navies conduct unmanned systems exercise

The Royal Navy said the systems were used to carry out surveillance of critical undersea infrastructure and to rehearse responses to potential hostile activity in a realistic operational setting, operating as part of a wider "ecosystem" of sensors and underwater vehicles to give greater understanding of the subsea environment.

The goal was to improve how nations detect, monitor and respond to potential threats below the surface, allowing participants to share expertise, collaborate and develop common operating procedures to ensure the three nations can work seamlessly together be it in peacetime or conflict.

The exercise was conducted under the AUKUS pillar II trilateral defence agreement, which concentrates on collaborative, accelerated deployment of advanced military capabilities by the three partner nations.