U.K. minister drives missile-armed STARK drone boat in Oslo

British Defence Minister Luke Pollard took the controls of STARK’s Vanta 12, a 12-meter (39-foot) uncrewed boat armed with Sea Venom anti-ship missiles, during a demonstration in Oslo this week, according to a company release sent to The Defence Blog.

Pollard, the U.K.’s minister for defence readiness and industry, was in the Norwegian capital for a meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force, the British-led group of northern European militaries. He’s also the member of Parliament for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, where the boat was developed.

“With the next generation of crewed platforms being built, we’re investing in the next generation of uncrewed platforms today,” Pollard said in the release. “Plymouth is the national centre for marine autonomy, and the new capabilities that we’re building will keep the UK and allies safe.”

The Vanta 12 was built in Dartmouth, Devon, and developed and tested in Plymouth, a spokesperson for the company told The Defence Blog. It carries up to 2 tonnes (about 4,400 pounds) of payload, including MBDA’s Sea Venom, the same missile the Royal Navy fires from its Wildcat helicopters, the company said.

UK Defence Minister Luke Pollard views STARK’s Vanta 12 autonomous surface vessel during a demonstration in Oslo, Norway.

STARK says the boat has a radar to track air and surface targets and enough range to stay out “in hard conditions for weeks at a time.” The company pitches it for shadowing suspect tankers through the Baltic, the English Channel and the North Sea, and for guarding undersea cables and pipelines.

The release didn’t say whether any navy has ordered the Vanta 12, or what one costs.

It’s “already being exported to NATO allies from shipyards in the South-West,” the release said, though the only delivery it named was a smaller boat. In September, STARK said, the first Vanta 6 built at the Plymouth site went to the German Navy, “the first uncrewed surface vessel taken into service by the German armed forces.”

That account doesn’t fully line up with earlier reporting. In August, Resilience Media reported that STARK’s first six-meter boat for Germany, the Vanta-based Seetaube, went to the Bundeswehr’s Cyber and Information Domain Service, and that “Germany isn’t putting Seetaube directly into service yet.” The Defence Blog has asked STARK to clarify.

The Vanta 12 took part in REPMUS, NATO’s largest exercise for uncrewed maritime systems, in September, according to the company.

Stephen Brian, STARK’s director of maritime and a former Royal Navy submarine commander, called it “a UK export success story.” He said the Vanta 12 is “the first unmanned vessel to bring together anti ship missiles, loitering munitions and surveillance,” a claim the company didn’t back with details.

STARK was founded in Berlin in 2024 and is best known for its Virtus loitering munition, which the German military has tested in drone swarm trials. The company says it has offices in Germany, Ukraine, the U.K., Sweden and Greece.

Its boat lineup now runs from the six-meter Vanta 6 to a planned 24-meter Vanta 24, which STARK says will carry up to 50 tonnes, a 30 mm gun and a 3D radar at speeds above 35 knots.

Plymouth got a £50 million (about $66 million) Defence Growth Deal from the British government in April to expand the National Centre for Marine Autonomy and set up a marine autonomy trials authority, per the release.

“Plymouth should be very proud of the innovation we are building,” Pollard said.