The UK and US fire a torpedo from an uncrewed undersea drone for the first time, as the PM pushes global AI cooperation at the UN

[BigDog10]

The UK government has announced two connected milestones from the UN General Assembly this week. On artificial intelligence, the Prime Minister used his UNGA address to push for global cooperation on AI, framing the technology as a force for good capable of reducing living costs and strengthening global security, while also announcing a new AI and Autonomy partnership between the two countries, pairing the Ministry of Defence's Rapid AI Delivery Taskforce with the US Department of War's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office specifically to protect critical infrastructure and strengthen shared technological capabilities.

Separately, and arguably more dramatically, the UK and US achieved what is being described as a genuine world first, successfully firing a heavyweight torpedo from Excalibur, a 12 metre uncrewed undersea drone manufactured in Plymouth, marking the first time either country has launched a torpedo from an uncrewed underwater vessel rather than a traditional crewed submarine. The torpedo itself was jointly developed by the US and Australia and is designed specifically to be capable of sinking both surface ships and deep diving submarines, with the test itself carried out in UK waters.

The government has framed the achievement as a significant breakthrough for Euro-Atlantic security and NATO's undersea advantage specifically, building directly on the existing AUKUS defence partnership between the UK, US and Australia. The Prime Minister summarised the underlying philosophy behind both announcements together, stating that the two countries are at their strongest when working with partners to tackle the most complex shared challenges they face.

Prime Minister drives global work on artificial intelligence at UNGA as UK and US make history with firing from undersea dronewww.gov.uk