ECA Group awarded UMS SKELDAR a procurement contract to supply the UAV SKELDAR V-200 as part of the naval mine countermeasures capability replacement, a programme led by Belgium Naval & Robotics – a consortium including Naval Group and ECA Group – which will supply twelve mine hunters equipped with drone systems (Toolbox) to the Belgian and Royal Netherlands navies.

On May 23, a new contractual milestone was reached as part of the Belgian-Dutch Mine Counter Measure (MCM) program: Exactly one year after notification of the contract in 2019, the program successfully passed the "Systems Functional Review" phase.

The Royal Netherlands Navy (Koninklijke Marine) and Belgian Navy (Marinecomponent/Composante marine) will replace their current M-frigates (Karel Doorman-class), the Dutch MoD confirmed today in an official statement. The future frigates’ main task will be anti-submarine warfare (ASW) thanks to a new type of torpedo and their embarked NH90 NFH maritime helicopter.

Following a four-year modernization and overhaul program, the Royal Netherlands Navy (Koninklijke Marine)'s air defence frigate "Zr.Ms. De Zeven Provinciën" is sailing again.

Royal IHC has announced that the acquisition and recapitalisation of Royal IHC has been finalised. The company remains in the Dutch submarine replacement program alongside Naval Group.

The French Navy (Marine Nationale) FREMM frigate FS "Languedoc" has begun its deployment under EMASOH (European-led Maritime Awareness in the Strait of Hormuz) command since May 19.

The construction of the Future Surface Combatant for the navies of the Netherlands (Koninklijke Marine) and Belgium (Belgian Naval Component) could face a further delay according to local media. The two parties don't seem to agree on some of the specifications of the so-called M-Frigate replacement.

Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 (SNMCMG1) and Baltic Naval Squadron have during the two last week cooperated in making the Irbe Straight safer for modern seafarers. In total, 32 mines were neutralized during exercise “Open Spirit 2020”.

France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have decided to join efforts in dealing with the Covid-19 crisis currently affecting their overseas territories. In order to help relief local populations, they decided to bring a coordinate military answer in support of civilian crisis management tools.