European waters could soon be protected from attack by foreign aggressors with the first uncrewed vessel designed specifically for the Baltic Sea, STARK has announced today.
Vanta 24 will be a heavily armed, 24-metre boat that can escort warships, guard critical underwater infrastructure and keep watch on the shadow fleet, operating alongside Royal Navy and allied fleets or independently. It will be fitted for anti-ship missiles, a 30mm gun and long-range radar, and engineered for the freezing temperatures, ice and short, steep waves of the Baltic, while also being able to operate across the North Sea, North Atlantic and High North.
The design is a direct response to the urgent need for NATO allies to step up their use of lower cost and scalable unmanned systems to patrol and detect, track and, if needed, strike dangerous foreign targets. The hybrid navy concept, where unmanned boats work alongside large conventional warships, is already being adopted at pace by the British, Norwegian and German armed forces - providing flotilla level force at a fraction of the crew size and cost.
Enemy submarines, warships and shadow fleet tankers continue to probe UK waters and the undersea cables that carry Britain’s data and energy, and as autonomous vessels play an increasingly critical role in Ukraine. The Baltic has become a front line for this activity, with a string of suspected attacks on undersea cables prompting NATO to launch its Baltic Sentry mission in 2025, which seeks to protect critical undersea infrastructure.
Vanta 24 is designed to take on the persistent, dangerous work of countering these threats, which currently ties up crewed frigates. With a radar to track threats in the air and at sea, and a naval-grade construction that will let it stay out in Northern European waters for weeks at a time, it will be able to shadow suspect tankers through the Baltic, the Channel and the North Sea or stand guard over cables and pipelines.
Its up to 50-tonne payload also means it can perform many offensive roles such as with anti-ship missiles, and be sent out ahead of a carrier group as the first line of defence, sprinting at more than 35 knots (over 40mph) with no crew aboard.
Johannes Schaback, Chief Technology Officer, STARK, said:
“British and European sovereign territory is being tested every day, from shadow fleet tankers in the English Channel to suspicious activity around the cables we all rely on. Navies cannot meet that with crewed warships alone. Vanta 24 will give the hybrid navy a heavyweight combatant built for the Baltic that will make aggressors think twice. Having a modern naval deterrence that can be scaled up quickly is at the core of STARK’s approach to maritime autonomy, as it continues to support the deterrence efforts of NATO allies.”
Vanta 24 is the third and largest vessel in STARK's Vanta family. The family has grown from a 6-metre patrol boat to a 24-metre combatant, at a fraction of the cost of a crewed frigate. A single operator can control all three vessels together using STARK's Minerva software, which connects to allied navies' existing command systems.
