Britain Joins Norway's Ship Programme, Buying Three Motherships for Its Drone Minehunters

The Royal Navy's future minehunters will not hunt mines themselves. They will carry the drones that do it. Britain has confirmed it will buy three Norwegian standardised vessels to act as motherships for its uncrewed mine-hunting systems, with the first due in 2031 and an option for three more.

Defence Secretary Wes Streeting and his Norwegian counterpart Tore O. Sandvik confirmed the deal at the Atlantic Future Forum in Oslo on November 12. Britain joins Norway's P1118 Standardised Vessel Programme, and the ships, which the Royal Navy will call Offshore Support Vessels, will be delivered through a government-to-government framework between the two countries. The UK has set aside an extra £90 million in its Defence Investment Plan for the purchase.

One hull, many jobs

Norway picked Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace and Salt Ship Design earlier this year to design up to 28 standardised vessels for its own navy. The idea is to replace more than ten different ship classes with one modular platform that can be fitted out for different missions. Lithuania has also agreed to take the vessels. Britain's three will come from the same family, which means shared spares, training and upgrades with two close allies on NATO's northern flank.

The ships are meant to be globally deployable. They will carry and support uncrewed surface boats and underwater vehicles that search for and destroy mines while the crew stays at a safe distance. The Ministry of Defence says they will also support anti-submarine warfare in the north.

HMS Brocklesby, one of the crewed Hunt-class minehunters the new systems are replacing. File photo.

Why now

The MoD pointed to Iran's mining of the Strait of Hormuz, which has disrupted global energy trade, as proof of how fast sea mines can become a strategic problem. The Royal Navy has been retiring its crewed Hunt- and Sandown-class minehunters while bringing in autonomous kit, and it has needed a proper ship to carry that kit far from home.

Alongside the mothership deal, the MoD gave TKMS ATLAS UK an £8.8 million contract to maintain and repair the navy's autonomous mine-hunting systems, including the surface and underwater vehicles and their control equipment, for an initial three and a half years.

The purchase is also part of a bigger bargain. Norway agreed in December 2025 to buy Type 26 frigates from Britain for about £10 billion, the UK's largest warship export by value. Buying Norwegian ships in return deepens a partnership that both governments now present as the core of their northern defence: the same frigates, the same motherships and increasingly the same way of operating.