What Happened
London Joins Norway Program to Counter Naval Mine Threats
The UK has formalized plans to purchase three new mine-hunting motherships as part of a defense cooperation agreement with Norway. The £90 million project aims to develop offshore support vessels that can deploy unmanned mine countermeasure assets, with the first ship expected to arrive in 2031. The decision was announced by British Defense Secretary Wes Streeting and his Norwegian counterpart, Tore O. Sandvik, at the Atlantic Future Forum in Oslo. The new capabilities will help the UK stay ahead of the threat posed by naval mines, which has surged since the start of the Iran war. This development was first reported by Breaking Defense.