According to Mitsui E&S, the new EMD is a high performance mine hunting vehicle specifically designed for the steep bathymetry and strong currents around Japan.
With a length of 1.8 meters and a weight just below 90 Kg, the whole system comes with a control station and cable winch. Mitsui’s EMD is indeed controlled via a “fine optical cable”, allowing the vehicle to achieve speed and good maneuverability, while the high power battery systems (LiSO2 and Li-Ion) provide long endurance. The cable winch with auto tensioner makes the cable resistance much smaller, contributing to fast target detection according to Mitsui.
For optical identification at greater depth, Mitsui’s EMD vehicle is fitted with a high sensitivity camera. The operator can get a clear sight at low light intensity.
Thanks to a unique thruster arrangement the vehicle has high maneuverability and can approach a target from various angles.
Mitsui told Naval News during MAST that the JMSDF selected this EMD vehicle after evaluating other systems including foreign ones, among which ECA Group’s K-Ster. Mitsui started deliveries of the EMD to the customer last year.
Update 07/19/2019
ECA Group contacted Naval News to explain that the K-Ster mine disposal system has in fact never been evaluated by the JMSDF, while Japan is long time user of the PAP mine disposal system. ECA Group would like to highlight the fact that its K-Ster system has been selected by the navies of:
- Singapore
- India
- Canada
- Kazakhstan
- Lithuania
And has been evaluated by the UK Royal Navy.
