Explores the changing balance of factors that navies must understand to achieve and sustain their advantage in the Undersea Battlespace. That advantage may be in exploiting the undersea environment or preventing an opponent exploiting it. Aspects include:

- The impact of a changing strategic environment and complex, environmental extremes in the undersea battlespace

- Identification and management of evolving threats and the need for rapid response and assurance of target defeat in congested subsea theatres

- Modern Anti-Submarine and Anti-Surface ISR & Warfare (ASW and ASuW), including survivability, stealth and offensive operations

- Seabed and mine warfare (SBW and MW) including area defence and protection of critical undersea Infrastructure

- Training and Simulation

- Evaluation and testing, capability sustainment

- Multi-vehicle, system and domain integration

Examines how technologies and knowledge from different domains and disciplines can be integrated to deliver smarter, more resilient undersea defence solutions:

- Cross-domain innovation (including integration of seabed to space, cyber, air-maritime integration)

- Climate and oceanographic science with defence implications

- AI data-driven decision support: big data analytics, automated data classification, anomaly detection and sensor data processing

- Data science, digital twins, and decision support tools

- Advanced materials, energy systems, bio-mimetics and sustainable tech’

- Human performance in undersea operations (diving, psychology, health)

- Man–machine teaming, including operator cognitive load, increasing machine:human ratio

- Multi-use technologies that could be adapted for defence needs

Focuses on the development, integration and sustainment of crewed platforms, autonomous, uncrewed, and remotely operated vehicles.

- Programme-level development, build and sustainment of submarines and autonomous and uncrewed vehicles and their systems

- Improvements in stealthy operation, efficient propulsion, endurance, navigation, human factors and habitability, supportability, modularity and communications arrangements

- Integration of autonomous, uncrewed and remotely operated vehicles to into the force structure to maximise advantage in the undersea domain, including extending reach, endurance and functionality

- Energetics for long-duration missions, low-power ops, and green propulsion

- Collaborative autonomy: multi-platform coordination and control

- Navigation and detection in complex undersea environments

- Incorporating autonomy into existing fleets, CMSs and C2/C3 infrastructure

- Launch and recovery systems for autonomous vehicle deployment from submarines and surface vessels

- Biofilm/biofouling control

Address the interdependent warfighting elements needed to deal with emerging threats in dense and dynamic subsea environments. Particular aspects of interest include:

- Combat management systems including AI enabled decision support: big data analytics, automated data classification, anomaly detection and sensor data processing

- Collaborative autonomy and seamless incorporation into existing C2 frameworks

- Developments in undersea sensing and in acoustic and electronic warfare

- Modularity and adaptability in weapons and payload integration

- Next generation torpedoes, smart payloads and delivery platforms

- Advanced defensive systems and countermeasures

- Developments in Acoustic/Optical Communications

Address the urgent need to co-opt new ideas and technologies and manage bespoke developments to improve and secure supply chains and enable production at scale and time to contribute in the challenging undersea defence arena.

- Industry-government collaboration and trust-building

- Agile research & development and procurement, including practicable management of the Demand Pull and Technology Push paradigm for long-duration submarine and short-duration uncrewed vehicle programmes

- Accelerated procurement models, including modular upgrades and COTS adaptation, including lifecycle costs, and sustainability

- Improvements in manufacturing processes to improve quality and rate of production, including enabling improved operational effectiveness through life

- Providing scale and depth of research, production, support arrangements and infrastructures

- New solutions and innovations to offset industrial and personnel constraints

- Budget optimisation and innovation under funding pressures