Thales is now pushing its Pathmaster unmanned MCM solution on the international market
The Maritime Mine Counter Measures (MMCM) program passed an important step late last year, with a production contract awarded by both British and French authorities as part of phase 2.
Guy Le Bihan, MMCM Chief Engineer at Thales, explained to Naval News that the culmination of MMCM “phase 1” was the live demonstration of the entire “system of systems” with back-to-back tests. These tests took place in very different environments in Brest, Toulon, and Plymouth, involving a complex set of scenarios and sub-scenarios. Carried out in autumn and early winter, testing was ramped up rapidly from 8-10 hour slots to 24/7 evaluation. The unmanned vehicles covered an equivalent of 30,000 football pitches – demonstrating an outstanding, threefold, increase in MCM productivity, compared with purely conventional approaches. Dozens of mines were detected, in all environmental conditions, and then classified and localised to clear the seas of threats.
“We covered about 200 Km², day and night, in high sea states, up to 4, in high wind conditions, up to 25 knots, we had up to 3 knots of current, from 300 meters of water depth in Toulon to shalow water, up to 7 meters in Plymouth for amphibious operation scenario. […] The end-users were happy with the systems and with the results […] we detected everything. The navies laid more than 130 mines, 10 to 15 different types of mines and we achieved 100% detection. For the most challenging scenario which was choke point and amphibious operation we succeeded to have between 95% and 99% probability of classification.”
Guy Le Bihan, MMCM Chief Engineer at Thales
Looking ahead, with MMCM “phase 2” Thales is putting in place full-scale production facilities, and reinforcing its global supply chains as it gets ready to deliver four complete systems to the Royal Navy and four to the Marine Nationale.
The opportunity to work with the French and British navies on MMCM’s groundbreaking work has enabled Thales to build deep expertise that can also serve other allied navies. Thales now offers its unmanned MCM knowhow and expertise on the international market with a product called PathMaster. Officially launched at Euronaval 2016, it is a complete approach designed to help customers cut through the complexity of unmanned mine warfare and explore the solutions that meet their future MCM needs and budgets.
“We are ready to address the international market either by proposing the full system of systems or to integrate, thanks to your open architecture, any asset a customer would like to integrate”.
Guy Le Bihan, MMCM Chief Engineer at Thales
A natural market for Thales (and Thales Australia) would be the upcoming SEA 1905 MCM program of the Royal Australian Navy. Le Bihan admitted that Thales is “looking closely” at this potential market.
About SLAM-F / MMCM
The Franco-British Maritime Mine Counter Measures (MMCM) project reached the manufacture stage in November 2020. The SLAM-F / MMCM mine warfare system will allow French and British sailors to operate remotely and stay out of the mine field through the use of unmanned systems.
Thales, together with its main partners (ECA Group, L3Harris and Saab) is set to deliver to each navy from 2022:
Royal Navy :
- 3 new Primary System, made up of :
- 1 Portable Operation Center (POC) by Thales including Mission Management System and Mi-MAP software for post mission analysis
- 1 Unmanned Surface Vessels (USV) by L3Harris ASV & Thales
- 1 Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), the Multi-Shot Mine Neutralization System by Saab, to identify and neutralize sea mines
- 1 Towed Sonar (the TSAM by Thales), to detect, classify and locate (DCL functions) the mines
- 1 upgraded demonstrator Primary system, made up of
- 1 Portable Operation Center (POC) by Thales including Mission Management System and Mi-MAP software for post mission analysis
- 1 Unmanned Surface Vessels (USV) by L3Harris ASV & Thales
- 1 Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), the Multi-Shot Mine Neutralization System by Saab, to identify and neutralize sea mines
- 1 Towed Sonar (the TSAM by Thales), to detect, classify and locate (DCL functions) the mines
- Note : the 3 Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV), the Espadon (A27) by ECA Group with Thales SAMDIS payload are not upgraded. A new AUV will be selected for the production phase
Marine Nationale :
- 3 new Primary System, made up of :
- 2 Unmanned Surface Vessels (USV) by L3Harris ASV & Thales
- 1 Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), the Multi-Shot Mine Neutralization System by Saab, to identify and neutralize sea mines
- 1 Towed Sonar (the TSAM by Thales), to detect, classify and locate (DCL functions) the mines
- 1 new Shore Operation Center (SOC) by Thales including Mission Management System and Mi-MAP software for post mission analysis
- 1 Training Center by Thales
- 1 upgraded demonstrator Primary system, made up of
- 1 Portable Operation Center (POC) by Thales including Mission Management System and Mi-MAP software for post mission analysis
- 1 Unmanned Surface Vessels (USV) by L3Harris ASV & Thales
- 1 Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV), the Multi-Shot Mine Neutralization System by Saab, to identify and neutralize sea mines
- 1 Towed Sonar (the TSAM by Thales), to detect, classify and locate (DCL functions) the mines
- 3 Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV), the Espadon (A27) by ECA Group with Thales SAMDIS payload.
Mi-Map: AI-assisted Mine Warfare
Mine Intelligence Mapping system (Mi-Map) is a new AI-assisted solution developed by Thales for mine warfare analysis.
Mi-Map is a digital assistant powered by AI for sonar data analysis including a fully integrated design for quick deployment and a continuous machine learning capability. This platform can reduce operator workload, improve Man-Machine performance, and speed up post mission and real time operator analysis whilst being able to self-adapt to new environments or threats.
“Mi-Map is the operational software that we use for mine warfare. It was proven at sea during the recent trials in both England and France. It allowed us to match the French Navy and Royal Navy requirements in order to detect and classify all the mines that had been laid on the sea-bed”.
Saab MuMNS: The mine-killing ROV of MMCM
According to its designer Saab, MuMNS delivers a new generation of mine identification and disposal in a powerful, modular system based on proven unmanned Saab technology and Mine Countermeasures solutions. This means unparalleled operational capability with greater flexibility that significantly improves operational tempo, and reduces the cost of Mine Countermeasures operations and risk to personnel.
David Peron, ROV product manager at Thales told Naval News that MuMNS can carry three mine neutralisation systems (shapped charge). Therefore MuMNS can neutralise three mines in a single mission which is quite unique. Another unique feature of MuMNS is that it can safely and quickly be reloaded at sea. Thales recently demonstrated the reloading of a MuMNS ROV using a RHIB in sea state 2.
