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The United Kingdom has announced that the Royal Navy is now able to deploy crewless minesweeping equipment to hunt and destroy mines for the first time.
The new systems, known collectively as SWEEP and manufactured by Dorset-based TKMS Atlas UK under a £25 million contract, have been accepted into service to remotely combat naval mines and keep personnel away from danger.
“The Royal Navy receiving its first fully autonomous minesweeping system is truly transformational. The uncrewed system can replicate a ship’s signature, tricking sea mines into detonating safely,” Royal Navy mine hunting capability program director Jonathan Reed-Beviere said.
“The portable, flexible system is vital to protecting ships from modern mine threats, operated remotely from land or sea, it will keep our sailors out of danger and will restore a minesweeping capability the Royal Navy has lacked since 2005.”
The remotely controlled units use magnetic and acoustic equipment to identify and terminate different variations of digital sea mines.
“The return of the ability to remotely counter sophisticated mines that are more difficult to detect by sonar, is a crucial milestone for the Royal Navy’s mine countermeasures capability,” said Royal Navy’s Mine and Threat Exploitation Group commanding officer, Commander Dan Herridge.
“To be able to do this remotely without putting people in harm’s way is a key tenet of the Mine Hunting Capability Program.
“The acceptance of SWEEP is an exciting milestone ahead of the Royal Navy conducting training, operational evaluation and assurance of the systems prior to deployment.”
SWEEP’s “sense and avoid” capability works together with other similar autonomous systems, such as the maritime mine countermeasures system and SeaCat uncrewed underwater vehicles, for the common goals of sustaining freedom of manoeuvre for Royal Navy vessels and making international waters safer.
“It’s an incredibly proud moment to see these cutting-edge minesweeping systems enter service with the Royal Navy,” TKMS Atlas UK managing director Antoni Mazur said.
“We have worked with the MOD for decades to develop our minesweeping expertise and deliver this capability as a true, UK innovation, supporting highly skilled local jobs and the manufacturing base. We look forward to continuing to work with the RN and MHC team for the success of the transition to an autonomous MCM capability for the UK.”
