Norway’s Kongsberg Maritime is proposing an unmanned vessel based on a commercial fishing trawler to help the British Royal Navy detect Russian submarines in the Arctic. The concept, called Arctic Hunter, would combine a proven commercial hull with autonomous systems and submarine hunting technology.

The company’s proposal starts with a standard fishing trawler design measuring 56 meters. Its fish processing equipment would be removed and replaced with autonomy features, allowing the vessel to search the ocean without a crew for roughly 60 days at a time, according to a company spokesman.

Arctic Hunter vessels would carry sonar technology produced by Thales UK for detecting submarines. Kongsberg Maritime also said the ships would include secure communications capabilities, giving the unmanned vessels the equipment needed to support Royal Navy operations.

Some parts of the commercial design would require modification for the new mission. The propeller, for example, is slated for a redesign intended to reduce the ship’s acoustic signature and prevent its own machinery from interfering with the onboard sonar.

The proposal responds to a U.K. requirement for unmanned vessels able to assist with antisubmarine warfare. In Royal Navy nomenclature, the planned vessels are known as Type 92 ships.

The Type 92 idea recalls a concept used during World War 2, when large numbers of relatively inexpensive vessels converted from whaler type designs protected U.K. warships against Nazi Germany’s submarine fleet. Kongsberg Maritime is proposing a modern unmanned variation built around available commercial ships.

Under the company’s concept of operations, a flotilla of 10 Arctic Hunter vessels would be based and supported somewhere west of the Bear Gap. That area stretches across the Arctic Ocean between Svalbard and Norway, according to the company spokesman.

Russian submarines must cross the Bear Gap while traveling toward the open Atlantic, the spokesman said. Positioning the unmanned vessels near that operating area would reduce the need for them to make the longer journey from Britain before beginning their assigned missions.

The proposed Type 92 vessels are central to Britain’s concept for a hybrid Navy. Under that approach, crewed warships and uncrewed vessels would work together on specific missions rather than relying exclusively on one type of platform.

For antisubmarine warfare, surface drones such as Arctic Hunter would assist future Type 26 frigates. BAE Systems is building those frigates for the U.K., Australia, Canada and Norway.

Kongsberg Maritime is presenting the project primarily as a maritime engineering challenge rather than a naval armament problem. The company argues that the commercial sector already has proven, durable ship designs capable of operating in the harsh conditions of the North Atlantic.

Those commercial vessels would still need to be retooled for unmanned operations, fitted with mission systems and modified to limit acoustic interference. Even so, the company’s approach rests on adapting an established trawler design instead of developing an entirely new hull for the Type 92 mission.

The proposed 60 day operating period would allow Arctic Hunter vessels to search without crews aboard for extended stretches. Their sonar, communications equipment and reduced acoustic signature would support the central mission of locating submarines while operating as part of a wider Royal Navy force.

Kongsberg Maritime was recently incorporated as a separate entity from its parent, the Kongsberg defense firm. The company said that if it is selected to build the Type 92 vessels, construction would take place in the United Kingdom.

The Arctic Hunter pitch therefore combines a commercial fishing vessel design, British sonar technology and autonomous operating features. The Royal Navy would receive unmanned platforms intended to work alongside Type 26 frigates while watching a strategically important route used by Russian submarines heading toward the Atlantic.