A joint British and French drone naval minesweeper has completed a final trial, clearing the path for it to enter service for both nation's navies.
The trials showcased Thales' M-Cube mission management system's capability to locate and identify sea mines, which incorporates an underwater drone that can install exercise charges on both bottom and moored mines. For reference, naval mines come in two types: bottom and moored. Bottom mines sit on the ocean floor and can be triggered by passing ships. Moored mines are anchored to the seabed but float at a certain depth and target surface vessels.
In 2015, Thales and OCCAR signed a contract to launch the MMCM program to demonstrate and qualify a new and fully integrated unmanned mine countermeasures system. France and Britain initiated the program, and its ultimate goal was to replace all existing mine warfare platforms, such asAccording to the French Armed Forces Ministry, a single MMCM system architecture consists of two surface drones. One has a towed sonar, while the other has a remotely operated robot.
The project is managed by Thales, who also manufactures the sonar, while ECA Group developed the underwater drones. Thanks to Thales ' multi-aspect sonar, these drones can detect high-resolution submerged objects. The sonar can capture images from three different angles in a single pass, making it easier and faster for the operator to identify and characterize an object.
During the 2022 Euronaval conference outside Paris, French military officials declared that the MMCM program would partner with a separate Belgian-Dutch de-mining program to provide new mine hunter vessels and unmanned systems. The program is known as the Belgian-Dutch Mine Countermeasures system.
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