An optionally crewed Flower-class ASW picket

What would a modern Flower-class escort look like?

It would be an optionally crewed ASW asset acting like a semi-independent helicopter, with Type 26 coordinating a wider picket line.

A future Flower-class concept would be an optionally crewed or uncrewed anti-submarine vessel. Its relationship with a frigate would resemble that of a helicopter cooperating in detection, although the small surface vessel could operate semi-independently. These craft would form a picket line while destroyers dealt with greater threats. Type 26 would increasingly coordinate their work, performing a role compared with airborne warning and control rather than pursuing every submarine contact itself.