The unmanned surface vessel of the SLAMF/MMCM program carried out a demonstration of its capabilities in Brest harbor in June 2019. Testing with teams from the French Navy, French Armament General Directorate (DGA) and Thales is ongoing while qualification for the whole system (USV + payload) is set for December this year.
Dutch State Secretary Barbara Visser, Belgian defense minister Didier Reynders and French companies Naval Group and ECA Robotics signed the contract for 12 next generation MCM vessels and their equipment in Brussels, on July 5, 2019.
According to local media, the Russian Navy started to experiment the use of UUVs and USVs from its Project 22350 Admiral Gorshkov-class frigate. UAVs are set to be tested from Russia's latest generation of frigates as well.
At MAST Asia 2019, the defense exhibition and conference held last month near Tokyo, Japan, local company Mitsui E&S was showcasing for the first time the new expendable mine disposal (EMD) vehicle of the JMSDF.
RE2 Robotics, a US developer of human-like robotic manipulator arms, announced yesterday that they have received $3 million in funding from the US Navy's Office of Naval Research (ONR) to develop a dexterous, underwater robotic hand with tactile feedback.
At LIMA 2019, the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace exhibition, ECA Group was showcasing its UMIS unmanned systems suite. The French company also introduced the latest addition to the UMIS suite during LIMA: UMIS Containerized, an air-transportable drones system for MCM missions.
The French consortium Belgium Naval & Robotics (formed by Naval Group & ECA Group) won the Belgian-Dutch MCM Program, the Kern (Belgian Council of Ministers) confirmed today, beating the two other competitors, Damen and Sea Naval Solutions.
The French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) has selected iXblue's Gaps acoustic positioning system for its Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) positioning and monitoring applications.
ECA GROUP, in collaboration with its naval architecture subsidiary MAURIC, integrates a new USV – (Unmanned Surface Vehicle) into its range of naval drones systems. The new INSPECTOR 125, based on an operational platform, is designed for high seas operations.
Northrop Grumman Corporation has successfully completed the development of the AQS-24C and delivered the first two systems to the U.S. Navy. The AQS-24C upgrade adds an in-stride volume search capability to the AQS-24B.
