How Belgium Naval & Robotics will Remodel Naval Mine Warfare

Naval News spent two days with Belgium Naval & Robotics, a consortium formed by Naval Group and ECA Group to answer the Dutch and Belgian Navies’ joint Mine Countermeasures program (MCM). From stem to stern, let’s discover how this joint venture (called a « combination » by the Belgian military) has built an innovative and strategic offer covering all Belgian requests, and more…

Belgian and Dutch navies: Benchmark in the field of mine warfare

There is an estimated 400,000 naval mines still threatening commercial and military ships in the North and Baltic seas. Mine warfare is a strategic mission in which Belgium and the Netherlands took a leading role early, rapidly becoming references in this field. One example: During Operation Southern Breeze (1990-1991), a small fleet of Belgian mine counter measure (MCM) vessels operating in the Gulf of Oman was credited with finding around 300 mines in less than a year. This unique know-how certainly explains why Belgium has been hosting the NATO Naval Mine Warfare Centre of Excellence (NMW COE) since 1965. But threats are evolving and it has been noted that mine warfare recently restarted becoming a strategic issue since more terrorist organizations are now capable to build immersed improved explosive devices (IED) from a barrel, home-made explosives and a cell phone. 

The Belgian and Dutch navies will start replacing their ageing fleet of MCM vessels from 2023. The Tripartite class vessels were built in the 1980s under a trilateral program between Belgium, Netherlands and France. Under the MCM program, the two navies intend to purchase 12 new vessels, 10 “tool boxes” and an initial 10 years support contract. Each tool box will be composed of an array of remotely operated and autonomous platforms, with two unmanned surface vessels (USV), one autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), one unmanned air vehicle (UAV) and, depending on the countries request, one remotely operated vehicle (ROV).

By launching their MCM program in 2018, Belgium and the Netherlands intend to shape and adopt the next generation of mine warfare by linking a mother-ship to autonomous platforms via a system that will make them interact. A strategic program, the MCM, lead by Belgium, is called to serve as benchmark for every modern navy that would like to modernize its mine countermeasure vessels or which intend to acquire a new capability. 

Unifying one the best naval shipyard in Europe and a world-leading naval drone manufacturer in a sole structure was an innate for the two partners that have been working together on various occasions for 30 years. As naval mines have become more sophisticated, and able to discriminate between targets, so they have become more difficult to deal with by conventional sweeping. The most reliable way to remove mines nowadays is mine hunting, which uses a wide range of remotely-operated platforms from a mother ship. 

Belgium Naval & Robotics signed not less than 39 partnerships with local industries, labs and universities. Six more could be signed if Belgium selects the consortium’s solution. That would create $2.1Bn of added value in the next 20 years on the Belgian soil, said the two partners. Moreover, the Belgium Naval & Robotics would create 350 jobs per year in average during the next two decades, essentially by outsourcing 100% of the support to Flanders Ship Repair (FSR) and Naval Group Belgium, and by producing the complete toolboxes in Zeebrugge. « It results from Naval Group and ECA Group strategic intent to settle in Belgium for the long term », explained Jean-Michel Orozco, Naval Group Head of Cyber Security and Naval Mission Systems. Simulation tools will be partly provided by CMI Defence in Seraing (Liège), while Sambre & Meuse shipyard (Namur) will be involved in ship parts production.

A wide and ambitious offer

More sophisticated threats will require more sophisticated answers. Thus, Naval Group is already working on new technologies that aim at reducing the electromagnetic and acoustic footprints of the vessel. Crew protection will also be provided by protecting the ship against CBRN attacks. 

Extending the toolbox will require more space to fit the launch and recovery systems, support areas and storages. Therefore, the design being proposed by Naval Group is slightly larger than the current Tripartite-class.

Composed of the unique ECA’s portfolio, the toolbox will be entirely produced on the Belgian soil, in a 5,000 m² plant to be based in Zeebrugge. 

While the mother-ship will safely stay outside of the mine field, the USV will be deployed within the supposed mine field. Likely selected among ECA Group’s Inspector family, the USV will then serve as a remote launch platform and a communication relay. While approaching the minefield, the USV will deploy a towed sonar, most probably the ECA’s T-18M, to start mine detection mission. If potential threats are detected, the USV will launch an autonomous underwater vehicle dedicated to mine classification. ECA will certainly propose its A-18M, which shares the same launch and recovery system (LARS) and similar logistics with the T18-M. Finally, for mine neutralization, the USV may deploy an Expendable Mine Disposal Vehicle (EMDS). ECA Group’s K-STER C AUV, for instance, is a lightweight expendable mine disposal vehicle fitted with a shape charge in a tiltable head to aim at the target to be neutralized.

Thanks to ECA Group’s wide array of remote platforms, sailors will be allowed to compose their own toolbox depending on mission request. Each USV will be able to launch up to two USV/AUV from its LARS. Maneuvering the « unmanned squad » will mainly rely on existing softwares such as I4Drones from Naval Group and Umisoft from ECA Group.

The only system that must be acquired outside of the partnership will be the VTOL UAV, that should be chosen between the two existing systems in Europe: the Skeldar V-200 proposed by UMS Skeldar (Sweden) and the Schiebel Camcopter (Austria). Naval Group is working since 2008 with the French Navy to assist with the integration of the later on its surface vessels.

Integrating ship and unmanned platforms will require significant work on data link protection. The consortium has been investing a lot in cyber security: Naval Group has a total of 1,400 computer engineers, of which 100 will be dedicated to the MCM program.

Naval Group has strong know-how in implementing complex industrial structures on foreign soil. This was recently demonstrated with the Brazilian Navy’s SB-R programme (and the launch of Brazil’s first locally built submarine). Under the Belgium Naval & Robotics offer, FSR shipyard will be responsible for the manufacture of many mechanical parts and sub-assemblies, as well as the maintenance of the MCM vessels. While FSR is not equipped with a maintenance dry dock, Naval Group plans to provide a whole new floating dock to FSR yard. ECA Robotics Belgium’s plant will be in charge of supporting the 10 tool boxes. 

Naval Group has strong know-how in implementing complex industrial structures on foreign soil. This was recently demonstrated with the Brazilian Navy’s SB-R programme (and the launch of Brazil’s first locally built submarine). Under the Belgium Naval & Robotics offer, FSR shipyard will be responsible for the manufacture of many mechanical parts and sub-assemblies, as well as the maintenance of the MCM vessels. While FSR is not equipped with a maintenance dry dock, Naval Group plans to provide a whole new floating dock to FSR yard. ECA Robotics Belgium’s plant will be in charge of supporting the 10 tool boxes. 

« The Dutch-Belgian program could become a benchmark in Europe and in other parts of the world »

Cyril Levy, Head of Unmanned Systems & Mine Warfare Programs at Naval Group

Setting the new benchmark

Under the moto « building the future », Belgium Naval & Robotics’ project involves creating two labs dedicated to naval mine warfare: the MCM and Cyber Labs. Structures in which Belgian engineers and military will determine and develop future mine warfare technologies. Naval mine warfare is expected to evolve in a near future, and both the MCM and the Cyber Labs will work on integrating next-generation technologies in the existing MCM systems, such as Artificial Intelligence. « Cyber attacks on commercial ships have been reported, it will not be long before military vessels start being targeted as well», said Cyril Levy, Head of Unmanned Systems & Mine Warfare Programs at Naval Group. Thus, Belgium Naval & Robotics established strong partnerships with two Belgian companies, Nviso and Akka. Both are renowned in the field of cyber security.

Once implemented, these structures should have an important role to play in the European « Maritime (semi-)Autonomous Systems for Mine Countermeasures » (MAS MCM) program lead by Belgium. 

The MCM program is expected to become a strong, if not the best, business card for the winning bidder. « The Dutch-Belgian program could become a benchmark in Europe and in other parts of the world », said Levy. Naval mines threat will continue to evolve and develop, pushing other navies to restructure and modernize their fleet, offering strong export to the benefit of Belgian industry. « Belgium will have the exclusive right to export all the systems being assembled on its territory, » confirmed Levy. Starting with its closest neighbor, as France will reportedly launch a similar program in 2020 to replace its own fleet of Tripartite-class vessels. Mine countermeasures is set to become a growing market in the near future, allowing the consortium to expect up to $6bn in revenues during the next 10 years.