The Royal Navy has unveiled Thales UK’s unmanned surface vessel to hunt sea mines and safeguard surface warships from hidden sea mines. The vessel tows a sensitive detection device to combat sea mines and keep ships and personnel from danger.
The United Kingdom and France have established in late 2010 a joint Maritime Mine Counter Measures (MMCM) program.
The MMCM program aims to create a flexible, interoperable, and reliable MMCM capability. The programme will aid in determining the best options for replacing the Hunt- and Sandown-class ships currently in service with the Royal Navy.
Its stand-off concept relies on off-board capabilities to keep personnel as far away from minefields as possible. These systems will give strategic, operational, and tactical freedom of manoeuvre by defeating static underwater threats at a rapid pace, ensuring the delivery of maritime force projection and maritime security at the time and place of the Nations’ choosing in support of a wide range of naval operations.
