Royal Navy plans further medical POD trials in line with hybrid navy concept

The interior of the Royal Navy's medical POD, which will undergo trials, displayed in Portsmouth in June 2026. (Janes/Neil Dee)

The UK Royal Navy (RN) has outlined plans for further trials of its medical Persistent Operational Deployment (POD) system. Speaking to media on Tuesday 23 June 2026 alongside the NATO Industrial Advisory Group (NIAG) plenary meeting in Portsmouth, Commodore Alison Hofman, head of the Royal Navy Medical Service, said that the medical POD is planned to be trialled on a commercial ship, following successful sea trials on the ice patrol ship HMS Protector in April 2026.

Cdre Hofman said that “the Protector integration was very much about learning the challenges and the lessons in terms of docking it [the POD] into a platform and what that then means for the ship in terms of how it operates.” Cdre Hofman added that the trial produced “really useful lessons” and that the RN will “take that forward into a bigger trial which we're aiming to do on a commercial platform.”

Speaking at the same briefing, Paul Keating-Brown, Business Development Director - Medical and Modular at Force Development Services (FDS), who manufacture the medical POD, said that “Navy Healthcare are moving forward with five more” of the type, including one configured as a CT scanner. Other potential medical POD capabilities include an intensive care unit and a laboratory.

The trials of the medical POD are in line with the RN's hybrid navy concept, Cdre Hofman said. While this envisages a mixed future fleet of manned and unmanned platforms, Cdre Hofman said that the medical POD plays a role in this by allowing medical capabilities to be integrated in a ‘plug-and-play' manner on any platform that has the requisite space.