While much of the focus of Naval Group in the Nordics currently is related to the push for FDI as the future Norwegian frigate, it is far from the only programme Naval Group is currently discussing in Northern Europe. The ongoing production for Belgium and the Netherlands of mine countermeasure vessels working as motherships for unmanned mine warfare is creating considerable interest in the Baltic Sea, with all three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) and Finland being in varying stages of discussions with the company.
The City-class mine countermeasure vessels, of which six are built for Belgium and six for the Netherlands under the rMCM programme, represent a drastically new approach to mine warfare. At 82 meters in length and 2,800 tons, the vessels are significantly larger than the 600 tons Tripartite-class they will replace, and instead of themselves going into the minefields, will function as motherships for a fleet of surface, underwater, and aerial drones which will – largely autonomously – detect, classify, identify, and neutralize mines. In addition to this being inherently safer as the humans are further away from the mines being hunted, this will also significantly speed up the pace of mine clearing compared to traditional mine hunting procedures. As such, this is of particular interest to many of the navies in the Baltic Sea, where naval mine warfare is of high priority. The first Belgian vessel, Oostende, is undergoing trials of her combat systems, while the first Dutch vessel, Vlissingen, is currently undergoing sea trials.
Lithuania is the country that reportedly is furthest along. The southernmost of the three Baltic countries, it borders Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave, which is host to the Russian Baltic Fleet’s main base in Baltiysk. With relatively shallow waters around the coast, the small Lithuanian Navy specializes in mine countermeasure operations, being a regular participant in Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 as well as contributing its Hunt-class minehunters – three are in service – and an ex-Norwegian Vidar-class command and support ship to the Baltic Mine Countermeasures Squadron (BALTRON). The focus in near- to medium-term future is to upgrade the existing fleet of vessels and boost the country’s mine countermeasure capabilities.
Another country currently looking at renewing its mine countermeasures capability is Finland, which in 2022 announced a programme to replace the ageing Kiiski-class and Kuha-class minesweepers with a new platform. The focus of the RAKY 2030-programme was on traditional minesweeping but with autonomous features. Plans were made to partly rely on the Navy’s existing mechanical sweep gear, but mount it on new platforms, with the ability to also sweep influence mines (acoustic, magnetic and electrical mines). The programme was abruptly paused shortly thereafter, and a rethink with a focus on alternative solutions is one possible explanation. Here as well the French concept might be of interest, in particular if Naval Group’s stated speed of mine clearing holds true (“up to ten times faster than traditional methods“), as that would bring the mine hunting speed up to the levels usually achieved only with sweeping, which while significantly more dangerous than hunting, has had the benefit of being able to cover vastly greater areas.
