Joy Of Six At CNE 2025’s All-Streams Day

Day Two of the Combined Naval Event was streams day: six separate theatres jam-packed with presentations on the latest developments both above and below the waves.

For those interested in surface fleets, the morning immediately presented a dilemma: delegates could either learn about the U.K. Commando Force programme and get an update on the Royal Navy’s plans for its Multi-Role Strike Ship, or they could get briefed on directed energy technology systems on board U.S. Navy ships.

Unless, that is, they wanted to hear about the Royal Navy’s Future Air Dominance System and the force’s plan to combine its maritime air defence and strike missile capabilities.

Meanwhile, those more focused on activities in the deep were equally well catered-for: initial options included choosing between talks on the U.K. Submarine Delivery Agency’s Partnership for Agile Capability Evolution (PACE); the MARSEC NATO Centre Of Excellence’s perspective on critical undersea infrastructure protection; and the DSTL’s perspective on the challenges of collaborative autonomy in the underwater battlespace.

And this brief snapshot doesn’t take in all the content on offer even before the first coffee break! Here’s a flavour of just some of the insights proffered:

• How the French Navy has been experimenting with multiple UAV, USV, and UUV platforms with a view to integrating them operationally (including the challenges Dragoon Fury 2025 experienced with having at least 11 separate C2 networks controlling them);

• The achievements and future ambitions of the AUKUS Maritime Big Play programme: a three-year “crawl, walk, and run template” initiative that seeks to unlock the benefits of autonomous systems, and apparently closely aligns with the anticipated priorities set to be cited in the U.K’s imminent Strategic Defence Review;

• The latest developments and apparent capabilities of the latest Chinese submarines, and their evident lead in the XLUUV domain and in speed and scale of ship and submarine production;

• The Japanese MoD’s plans for XLUUV experimentation with long-duration uncrewed underwater vehicles, including anti-submarine warfare missions featuring teamed tracking tasks;

• The Royal Netherlands Navy’s programmes for the extension of its Walrus-class subs and the introduction of its new Orka-class submarines; and (far from finally)

• A revealing series of panel discussions and “fireside chats” taking in everything from highlighting the main obstacles to exploiting the full potential of uncrewed underwater vehicles, to a detailed discussion of Turkish naval shipbuilding capacity and current and future programmes.

Meanwhile, at lunchtime selected guests were invited to take part in a roundtable discussion to help shape the content and discussion parameters for Navy Leaders’ upcoming Seabed Defence 2026 (SD26) conference in Gothenburg, Sweden.

SD26 will be chaired by Lieutenant General Hans-Werner Wiermann, the former head of NATO’s Critical Undersea Infrastructure Coordination Cell. He also chaired today’s thought leadership discussion, a well-attended and lively session that will prove invaluable in ensuring next year’s event will be supremely relevant and useful for all attending.

One of the newest additions to our naval events portfolio, SD26 is being staged alongside our successful Navy Tech System of Systems event and already has more than 35 speakers and 30-plus exhibitors confirmed.

SD26 will bring together leaders from the maritime community and industry to explore both the range of growing threats and the innovative solutions seeking to tackle them.

Coming back to CNE 2025, on Day Three we continue with the six-stream format in the morning — there’s just so much to pack in — before coming back into twin plenary sessions to round off the conference. Stay posted for a final update tomorrow!