UK And Norway Prepare Type 26 Frigates To Guard Cables And Track Russian Subs In North Atlantic.

London and Oslo have signed the Lunna House Agreement, creating a shared anti-submarine fleet built around at least 13 Type 26 frigates and related assets across the North Atlantic. The pact strengthens NATO undersea defenses at a time when Russian naval activity and attacks on seabed infrastructure remain a growing concern.

The United Kingdom and Norway have locked in a major step forward for North Atlantic security, announcing a joint framework that ties their future anti-submarine warfare forces into a combined operational fleet. Officials from both countries said the new Lunna House Agreement, disclosed on 4 December 2025 by the UK Ministry of Defence, formalises years of shared patrols and industrial cooperation and positions the Type 26 frigate as the centrepiece of coordinated operations that will stretch from the Barents Sea to the GIUK gap.
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The UK and Norway are forming a joint anti-submarine warfare force built around the Type 26 frigate, Naval Strike Missile, and Sting Ray torpedo, preparing coordinated High North exercises to counter growing Russian undersea activity and protect critical seabed infrastructure (Picture source: UK MoD).

At the centre of future UK-Norway anti-submarine exercises will be the Type 26 City class. Designed for extremely low acoustic signatures, the 149.9-meter frigate uses a CODLOG propulsion system that allows quiet electric drive during submarine hunts, paired with a range exceeding 7,000 nautical miles for sustained patrols in the GIUK gap. Its ASW suite combines a bow sonar with the advanced Sonar 2087 towed array, feeding a combat system built to integrate data from maritime patrol aircraft, helicopters, and autonomous underwater sensors.

Type 26 is built around Sea Ceptor cells for local area air defence and a 24-cell Mk 41 vertical launcher designed to host next-generation cruise and anti-ship missiles, supported by a 127 mm Mk 45 gun for surface and naval gunfire support missions. Under the Lunna House framework, Royal Navy ships will standardise on Kongsberg’s Naval Strike Missile already in Norwegian service. This sea-skimming strike weapon combines stealth shaping with high subsonic performance, a range that can exceed 185 to 300 kilometres depending on variant, and a 120-kilogram programmable warhead guided by imaging infrared for terminal discrimination.

Beneath the surface, the exercises will emphasise the Sting Ray lightweight torpedo, for which the agreement calls for deeper cooperation and harmonised stockpiles. Sting Ray Mod 1 is an electrically powered, pump jet-driven 324 millimetre weapon capable of reaching roughly 45 knots across an 8 to 11 kilometre engagement envelope. Its acoustic homing seeker is designed to counter both modern diesel electric and nuclear submarines, delivering a shaped charge designed to breach a pressure hull. The torpedo can be launched from frigates, Merlin helicopters, and fixed-wing maritime patrol aircraft, enabling a fully integrated UK-Norway training environment.

Air assets will shape the tactical character of the exercises. Royal Navy Merlin HM2 helicopters equipped with dipping sonar, multi-mode radar, and Sting Ray torpedoes extend the sensor reach of Type 26 far beyond the ship’s own arrays. Norway is fielding MH-60R Seahawks to replace its NH90 fleet, adding a fully interoperable aircraft capable of sonobuoy deployment, torpedo delivery, and data sharing with both frigate classes and allied P-8 Poseidon aircraft. Combined drills in the GIUK gap are expected to rehearse coordinated prosecutions in which patrol aircraft cue helicopters onto contacts before handing off firing solutions to the frigates for simulated missile or torpedo engagements.

The Lunna House framework also hardwires uncrewed systems into future scenarios. Both nations will operate offshore support vessels designed as motherships for minehunting and undersea warfare drones, mirroring the Royal Navy’s shift toward modular platforms capable of deploying autonomous surface and underwater vehicles for mine countermeasures and seabed surveillance. These motherships are expected to feature prominently in High North exercises that blend mine warfare, cable protection, and anti-submarine operations into a single undersea battlespace.

Strategically, this intensified UK-Norway effort is driven by a sharp rise in Russian naval activity, including deployments of special mission vessels near critical seabed infrastructure. The Nord Stream pipeline sabotage and several subsequent cable incidents across Northern Europe exposed the vulnerability of energy routes and data links, pushing NATO to elevate critical undersea infrastructure protection to a core mission area. British and Norwegian officials now frame the Lunna House Agreement as both a deterrent and an operational insurance policy for the stability of the High North and the energy and information flows that underpin Europe’s security.

For the industry, the frigate programme secures long-term work for British shipyards and ensures Norway’s variants stay aligned with the Royal Navy’s upgrade pipeline. For operators, the change is immediate: the next large-scale exercise in the High North will not be a loose assembly of national units but a combined British Norwegian undersea task group training with shared missiles, common torpedoes, integrated helicopters, and a growing network of unmanned systems watching the seabed from the Barents Sea to the Irish Sea.