Sweden Develops Large Underwater Drone for Baltic Sea

The Swedish Armed Forces, together with Saab, are developing a large autonomous underwater drone to detect, monitor and counter threats beneath the surface of the Baltic Sea.

The Armed Forces announced the project in a press release.

“The environment on and below the surface of the Baltic Sea is of great importance to everyone’s daily life. A significant part of Sweden’s imports and exports move by sea. And along the seabed lie cables and pipelines that provide, among other things, internet and energy. Now the Armed Forces are taking the next step in maintaining protection and security below the water surface,” the statement said.

The joint project will produce the LUUV (Large Uncrewed Undersea Vehicle), a large unmanned autonomous underwater drone similar to a mini-submarine but without a crew. The system will be able to operate with ships, vehicles and other platforms.

The first sea trials are scheduled for the summer of 2026, after which prototypes will be further refined ahead of mass production.

At the end of January, the Swedish government detained a Maltese-flagged vessel suspected of damaging an underwater communications cable connecting Latvia and Sweden.

Earlier, on January 14, NATO announced the launch of Operation Baltic Sentry, aimed at protecting the region’s maritime infrastructure from a growing number of sabotage attempts.