The Royal Navy has challenged naval architects and engineers to envision how the future fleet might look like in 2050.
Naval architects have met the Royal Navy’s challenge and have come up with futuristic concept images of the battleship of the future – dubbed Dreadnought 2050. HMS Dreadnought, which the futuristic warship is named after, was a 1906 Royal Navy ship that represented a number of key advances in naval technology.
Changing trends in naval warfare are shaping the vessels of the future. Warships of the future will be sleek and stealthy, resembling something like a spaceship from Star Wars.
The images above show some of the possibilities for vessels in 2050:
- The warship can be operated with a vastly reduced crew of around 50 – down from 200 on today’s vessels.
- Dreadnought 2050 is a tri-hull design, and its ultra-strong acrylic hull could be made see-through to help crews’ field of vision during battle.
- The ship is fitted with speed of light weapons, remotely piloted drones, and defensive hypersonic missiles.
- The futuristic operations room will have a holographic command table, allowing commanders improved focus on areas thousands of miles away.
- The electromagnetic gun at the bow will fire projectiles the same distance as today’s long-range cruise missiles.
