One key outcome of the UK government’s March 2021 Defence Command Paper ‘Defence in a competitive age’ was to set out plans for the phased replacement of the Royal Navy’s current mine countermeasures vessel fleet by a new generation of maritime autonomous systems.
Naval News earlier this year visited the Thales site of Brest to learn about the latest developments in the French-British MMCM program. We learned about some key milestones being achieved.
Saab has received the first order from prime contractor Thales, acting as System Integrator of the end to end solution, for the Multi-Shot Mine Neutralisation System (MuMNS).
Thales is currently looking at integrating its SAMDIS sonar aboard ECA Group's A18M UUV as part of the SLAMF/MMCM mine warfare program.
The contract is for three sets comprising portable operation center, UUV, towed sonar & mine neutralization system.
The French Minister of the Armed Forces, approved on October 27, 2020, the launch of the SLAMF (Système de lutte anti-mines futur) Future Mine Warfare System Program.
Thales yesterday announced the success of the first configuration conducted under real operational conditions with the complete system developed for the Franco-British MMCM (Maritime Mine Counter Measures) programme launched in 2010 and awarded to the Group in 2015.
French Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, visited the French Navy (Marine Nationale) naval base of Brest on May 29. She witnessed the future mine warfare system and presented the advances of the franco-british maritime mine countermeaseure (MMCM) programme.
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.
