Sweden has begun construction of its first unmanned mini-submarine as part of an accelerated defense program aimed at strengthening security and surveillance in the Baltic Sea, TVP World reports.
The initiative was a response to the changing security landscape following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Since then, the Baltic region has become a zone of hybrid warfare. Moscow has been accused of using civilian vessels to sabotage undersea cables, disrupting communications and energy lines between NATO countries.
The project is being implemented at the Kockumsvarvet shipyard in collaboration with the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration and Saab. The prototype is planned to be launched in the summer of 2026.
The six-meter-long mini-submarine will be designed to perform the tasks currently performed by Sweden's four manned submarines. In particular, it will conduct reconnaissance before the main forces leave, detect mines, underwater surveillance systems and other threats on the seabed. According to project manager Tobias Söderblom, in the future the boats may be armed with mines or torpedoes, although a decision on this has not yet been made.
It is assumed that the autonomy of the devices will be provided by artificial intelligence, which will allow them to operate independently for up to seven days. At the same time, at this stage, the developers are not considering the possibility of giving AI the right to make decisions about the use of weapons. Söderblom noted that although friend-of-all-trades recognition remains a difficult task, there are already a number of missions that such devices can perform independently.