CERTO Aerospace, an innovative UK startup opened by British Armed Forces veterans, has successfully demonstrated its CAPSTONE uncrewed rotorcraft in the ASW role at an “ASW DETECT, LOCATE & TRACK” event held by the Royal Navy at Keevil Airfield on 23 February 2026. Details of the demo have only been disclosed now.

The demonstration was part of a number of experiments and evaluations underway towards the selection of the systems that will be used for ATLANTIC NET / ATLANTIC BASTION (Project CABOT), an ASW “barrier” employing uncrewed systems for persistent detection of underwater threats in the North Atlantic.

The CAPSTONE is a 600 kg heavy lift rotorcraft using co-axial, contra-rotating rotors, which CERTO initially developed for Heavy Lift logistic tasks. In this case, the payload was constituted by sonobuoys and by the UYS-506 acoustic processor from General Dynamics Mission Systems (UK) Ltd, industry partner for this project.

Sonobuoys data was generated by Qinetiq’s sonobuoy data creator (QSDC), a system already regularly used by the Royal Navy in training exercise for the MERLIN ASW helicopter crews. The demonstration proved that data could be collected from the sonobuoys and processed by the UYS-506 before being shared via Data Link with the CAPSTONE’s ground station, passing on the underwater situation, acoustic data, target location and track. The data was also further redistributed, all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, using a STARLINK sitcom solution.

Justin Tooth, CEO of Certo Aerospace and former Royal Navy LYNX helicopter pilot, celebrated the success of the demonstration and expressed satisfaction for the selection of CERTO for the ATLANTIC BASTION demonstration phase. This important milestone for CAPSTONE follows earlier selection for Project MORRIGHAN as well, a program that aims to mature a heavy lift drone solution coupled with a common cargo bed / stretcher solution enabling rapid resupply and Casualty / Medical Evacuation tasks on the battlefield.

CERTO Aerospace is also collaborating with BAE Systems to adapt CAPSTONE for Project NYX, the British Army’s competitive concept demonstration program for an Autonomous Collaborative companion for the AH-64E APACHE gunship.

It is hoped that contracts will soon begin to materialize for ATLANTIC NET. According to previously released information, ATLANTIC NET will see the employment at sea of a number of Contractor Owned and Contractor Operated uncrewed and autonomous systems for data collection. The “Commercial Partner” will be responsible for the data gathering and will provide the data generated to the Royal Navy. Going towards 2030, ATLANTIC NET is meant to further expand and evolve and transition fully to Royal Navy control and operation, becoming the intended, “final” ATLANTIC BASTION. This new ASW capability is, at least in the theory, one of the highest priorities to be endorsed by the Strategic Defence Review and (as yet unpublished) Defence Investment Plan. As of January, the MOD said it had evaluated 26 compliant industry proposals for "persistent ASW Sense as a service". In March, another Written Answer said 5 consortia remained in the running for the role of "ATLANTIC NET Commercial Mission Partner". The timeframe for contract awards remains uncertain.

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