U-1A Legion prototype, studio render
Expendable mine neutralisation vehicle

U-1A LEGION

Finds its way to one mine and ends it. Built from off-the-shelf parts, controlled over fibre, and made to be used in numbers.

Designation U-1A Legion Role Mine neutralisation Control Fibre-optic tether Status Prototype v1 in testing
LOADING MODEL
U-1A Legion
Walkaround / Prototype v1 CADScroll to rotate
Figures are design targets for the production vehicle
01 / OVERVIEW

One drone.
One outcome.

A small, tethered underwater vehicle that travels to a single mine, confirms it, and is destroyed with it. Everything on board is chosen so it can be built in numbers.

Length
1 m
Dry weight
35 kg
Depth rating
200 m
Stable in current
2-3 kn
02 / SENSORS

Camera and
light pod

A camera and a lamp at the front give the operator a live picture of the target. Nothing happens until a person has seen it and made the call.

Video
Live
Sonar
Forward, close range
Final ID
Operator, by eye
03 / PROPULSION

Six-axis
control

Thrusters let it hover, hold still and turn on the spot in front of a target, so the operator gets a steady picture before making the call.

Speed
4+ kn
Endurance
2 h
Axes
6
Control
Semi-autonomous
04 / LINK

Fibre-optic
tether

An optical fibre pays out from the tail as the drone travels. There is no radio signal to jam, and live video comes back all the way from the target.

Range
2 km
Link
Optical fibre
Carries
Live video + control
05 / SONAR

Ultrasonic
sensors

Two ultrasonic sensors sit under the bow. One looks ahead and slightly down to pick up the target on the way in. The other looks straight down, so the drone can hold a steady height above the seabed.

Forward
Target range
Downward
Height above seabed
Used for
Final approach
06 / PAYLOAD

The nose

A shaped charge sits in the nose. When it fires, the drone and the mine are destroyed together. The prototype carries no explosives.

Payload
Shaped charge
Recovery
Only if it finds nothing
Prototype
Inert
01 Made in numbers

Scale to
the threat.

The systems in service today are expensive compared with the mines they clear: the single-use mine-clearing drones navies buy now cost about DKK 0.7 to 2.2 million each. The U-1A Legion takes on only the last step, close identification and neutralisation, and leaves finding the mines to the host vessel. That keeps it small, low-cost and simple to build in numbers.

01

Little kit needed

One person launches it from a small boat or an uncrewed surface vessel. No crane and no special ship.

02

Distance

The operator and the host vessel stay well outside the minefield. Nobody goes into the water.

03

Single use

Destroyed with the mine. Nothing to recover, reload or bring home.

04

Many at once

Several drones from one vessel, under one operator, clearing in parallel.

02 The sequence

Launch.
Dive. Neutralise.

Renders of the full sequence, from the stern of an uncrewed vessel to the seabed.

A U-1A Legion sliding down the launch rack at the stern
01 / LaunchRender
The U-1A Legion diving, its fibre tether trailing behind
02 / DiveRender
The U-1A Legion closing on a moored mine near the seabed
03 / Final approachRender
Demonstrations

Want to see
it dive?

Prototype v2 demonstrations start in 2027. Tell us what you need to see.