A £10 billion warship sale is now paying dividends in the other direction. The UK Ministry of Defence confirmed on Thursday, Nov. 12, that the Royal Navy will buy three Offshore Support Vessels from Norway to serve as floating bases for uncrewed mine-hunting systems, with an option for three more.
The vessels will be built under Norway's P1118 Standardised Vessel Programme and delivered through the government-to-government Maritime Capability Partnership Framework between London and Oslo. The first ship is due in 2031. The UK has set aside £90 million through 2030 as a down payment toward a total program cost estimated near £330 million for the initial three hulls, according to UK Defence Journal.
Drones doing the dangerous work
Each Offshore Support Vessel is designed to launch and recover uncrewed underwater and surface vehicles that search for and neutralize sea mines, along with the command-and-control equipment needed to operate them from a distance. The arrangement keeps sailors away from minefields, extending a shift the Royal Navy has pursued since retiring its crewed Hunt- and Sandown-class minehunters in favor of uncrewed systems deployed from host vessels.
Defence Secretary Wes Streeting framed the purchase in strategic terms, saying the deal "strengthens our ability to protect freedom of navigation, which is critical to our security and our economy." Norwegian Defence Minister Tore O. Sandvik said operating shared platforms would deepen "navy-to-navy cooperation" between the two NATO allies, who already coordinate closely on the alliance's northern flank, where mine warfare and anti-submarine patrols have become more pressing since Russia's naval activity increased in the Baltic and Barents seas.
The frigate deal that made it possible
The mothership purchase is explicitly linked to Norway's decision in December 2025 to buy British Type 26 frigates for roughly £10 billion, Britain's largest-ever warship export and a deal that supports an estimated 4,000 UK jobs, including 2,000 at BAE Systems' Glasgow yard. The reciprocal mothership order gives Norwegian shipbuilders a return contract and cements the Maritime Capability Partnership Framework as a template for future equipment swaps between the two navies.
The purchase adds the UK to a small group of navies, including France and Belgium, that have shifted toward uncrewed mine-countermeasure systems launched from motherships rather than dedicated minehunter hulls. For drone and autonomous-systems suppliers, the deal signals a multi-year, multi-vessel demand pipeline for underwater and surface mine-hunting hardware tied directly to NATO's push to harden its northern maritime flank.