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Home» News»Video: A brief overview of the Latvian Navy, today and in the future

Video: A brief overview of the Latvian Navy, today and in the future

Small but ambitious, the Latvian Navy is planning to enhance its mine hunting capability through a 21M€ overhaul program of its Tripartite-class minehunters. Naval News was at the Liepāja Naval Base, to learn more on what is now the biggest upgrade project of the Latvian Navy.

Nathan Gain 25 Sep 2019

The Latvian Navy current fleet of minehunters features a hull sonar for mine detection and classification. Once the object is detected, sailors send an ECA Group’s PAP AUV for the destruction phase. The navy’s goal is now to modernize the ship capability by replacing the hull sonar with up-to-date and reliable unmanned systems. Facing aging systems, Latvia launched an RFI in 2017, followed by a tender in May 2019. As far as we know, five companies are expected to bid: ECA Group, Atlas Elektronik, Leonardo, Thales and ID Robotica SA. Spanish shipyard Navantia show interest for a while before retracting. Selection of the preferred bidder is expected to happen by year end. 

The Latvian Navy plans to replace the ageing PAP drones by an AUV fitted with a synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) that would extend the existing operational radius of the A9-M AUV from 100 to 500 meters. Instead of having a hull sonar that would be impacted by the ship movements, the sea state, etc., the Latvian Navy would deploy a system that will be deployed near the sea floor, within the same conditions than the mine, greatly increases the resolution on control screens.

New simulations systems and control stations will also be purchased depending on the selected system, theoretically decreasing the number of consoles needed for a same mission. Except the mine hunting capability, the Latvian Navy is also planning to modernize the vessels’ C2 and navigation systems, such as the navigation softwares and the autopilot. 

From the Latvian side, this program is just seen as an interim solution before considering the replacement of the fleet in the 2030s. According to a Navy officer, one of the scenarios would be a joint purchase with the Estonian and Lithuanian navies. Besides Latvia, the Estonian Navy in July 2018 announced a modernization plan for its three Sundown-Class minehunters worth around 30M€

Latvia Latvian Navy Video 2019-09-25
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Authors

Posted by : Nathan Gain
Nathan is based in Namur, Belgium. He holds an MA in modern history with a minor in international relations from the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL – Belgium). Fascinated by military history he naturally turned to the defense sector after graduating and is particularly interested in Northern European and Belgian defense issues as well as in anything related to naval aviation.

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