01 / DETECT
The host finds it.
The host vessel's sonar, or a survey drone, finds the contact and marks its position. Nordhal does not build this part. The U-1A Legion works with whatever the navy already uses.
Host platformNordhal Defence / Sønderborg, Denmark
ONE VEHICLE.
ONE MINE.
Low-cost, expendable underwater vehicles that clear sea mines.
200 MDepth
4+ KNSpeed
2 KMRange
35 KGWeight
Design targets / prototype stage
00 The problem
It takes hours to lay a minefield and months to clear one. Today each mine is handled one at a time, by vehicles too expensive to lose. The U-1A Legion is built like ammunition: made in numbers, used once, and expected to work every time.
5.5 months
How long the Strait of Hormuz stayed mined in 2026, over just 11 mines.
1,800×
The damage two cheap mines did to two US warships in 1991, compared with what the mines cost.
80,000+
Old mines still lying on the floor of the Baltic Sea.
01 The mission
LINK TERMINATEDTARGET NEUTRALISED / 1 VEHICLE, 1 MINE
Host sonar / contact marked01 / 05
From contact
to clear.
The host vessel finds the mine. The U-1A Legion finishes it. Drone and mine go together, and nobody has to go into the water.
02 / DEPLOY
One person launches it.
The drone goes over the stern of a small boat or an uncrewed surface vessel. No crane, no dedicated mother ship, no dive team.
U-1A Legion03 / TRANSIT
A fibre keeps it on the line.
A fibre-optic cable pays out behind the drone. It cannot be jammed, it carries live video back to the surface, and it keeps the operator well outside the minefield.
U-1A Legion04 / IDENTIFY
A person makes the call.
Close in, sonar relocates the contact and the camera gives the operator a clear picture of it. The operator confirms the target before anything else happens.
Operator + U-1A Legion05 / NEUTRALISE
Both gone.
The charge fires. Drone and mine are destroyed together. There is nothing to recover and nothing to bring home, so the next drone is already on its way.
U-1A Legion02 Why numbers matter
One at a time
is the bottleneck.
Today a single, expensive vehicle works through a minefield mine by mine, and comes home between each one. If you know where five mines are, you should be able to send five drones at once.
Today
One at a time
U-1A Legion
All at once
Illustration only, not to scale
03 Where Nordhal fits
The missing layer.
Navies are good at finding mines. The missing layer is a low-cost way to deal with each one once it has been found.
/0.1Sense
Navies and system integrators
Hull sonar, towed arrays, survey drones and seabed sensors find and track what is down there.
/0.2Decide
The operator
A person on the host vessel reviews the contact and gives the order.
/0.3Act
Nordhal
The U-1A Legion closes the last few metres and ends the threat. Low-cost enough to be used in the numbers the job needs.
Europe is getting very good at seeing what happens under the sea. What it does not have yet is a low-cost way to act on it, in numbers.
04 The system
Built around
one drone.
One drone, a fibre link, a console and a way to launch it. Everything around the drone is kept simple so the drone itself can stay low-cost and mass-producible.
Prototype v1 in the water
U-1A Legion
Expendable mine neutralisation vehicle. One metre long, 35 kg, rated to 200 m (design targets).
In development
Fibre spool
Optical fibre on a spool designed and produced in-house. Cannot be jammed.
In development
Operator console
Live video, sonar and drone status on one screen.
Concept
Launch systems
Racks, containers and tubes, on a crewed or uncrewed boat. Options we are exploring.
05 Status
Where we are.
From a registered company to a working prototype in the water in about three and a half months. The next steps, in order:
May 2026
Company founded
Nordhal Defence ApS registered in Sønderborg, Denmark.
DoneAug 2026
Prototype v1 in the water
Designed from scratch, 3D printed and assembled. First full dive with no leaks.
DoneNow → Nov 2026
Prototype v1 testing
Fibre payout, thrusters, camera and sonar tested in the pool.
In progressFeb–Mar 2027
Prototype v2
Built close to the final design. The version partners get to see.
Planned2027
Partner trials
Live demonstrations with system integrators and navies.
Planned2028 →
First deliveries
First contract, then production aimed at 100+ drones a month.
Planned
Analysis
Making mine warfare ship-agnostic
A container gets mine clearance equipment on board. What it takes for almost any ship to carry it without being changed.
Analysis
It takes hours to lay a minefield. Why does it take weeks to clear one?
Hormuz, the Red Sea and the Baltic show what happens when clearance cannot keep up.
Coming soon
Engineering
Why fibre beats radio underwater
A drone underwater still has to talk to someone on the surface. There are only a few ways to do that, and most of them fall apart exactly where it matters.
Work with us
See it in
the water.
We are looking for system integrators, navies and test partners who want to see the U-1A Legion work.