The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia announced that they will jointly develop uncrewed undersea vehicles, or UUVs, marking the first project under Pillar II of their 2021 AUKUS pact, with deliveries set to begin in 2027, Politico reported on June 1. The project will focus on undersea surveillance, reconnaissance, strike, logistics, mine countermeasures, electronic warfare, anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare and protection of seabed infrastructure such as undersea cables and pipelines.

The announcement comes as the AUKUS partners are trying to give Pillar II a more concrete operational purpose after years in which the pact has been dominated by the slower, more politically sensitive nuclear-powered submarine pathway under Pillar I. It also reflects growing concern that the undersea domain is becoming more contested.