AUKUS navies remote-control ships from 10,000 miles away in experiment

LONDON (Reuters) - The navies of Britain, Australia and the U.S. were able to control uncrewed ships in Australia while sitting more than 10,000 miles away in Portugal as part of a series of military experiments, Britain's Royal Navy said on Friday.

The AUKUS security pact between the three nations, which aims to counter China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region, is helping bring new military technology to the frontline at an "unprecedented" pace, the Royal Navy said.

"The successes experienced, including proving the ability of all three AUKUS navies to command-and-control vessels on the other side of the world in a tactically realistic scenario, show how close we are to realising our ambition of a genuine team of crewed and uncrewed systems, capable of operating and prevailing everywhere on the planet, from the seabed to space," Royal Navy Director Develop James Parkin said in a statement.

The experiments - dubbed "Maritime Big Play" - also tested other uncrewed equipment in mock operational scenarios. This included dropping payloads from a drone, with the ultimate aim of getting uncrewed technology to the frontline quickly.

AUKUS nations are planning further experiments later this year, involving about 30 systems in a large-scale demonstration in the Indo-Pacific, the Royal Navy said.

The AUKUS nations have been deepening their collaboration this year, including reforms announced in August to remove significant defence trade barriers.

China has called the AUKUS pact dangerous and warned it could spur a regional arms race.

(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)