Lockheed Martin selected for ROC Navy MCM programme

Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training will work with Ching Fu Shipbuilding of Taiwan and Intermarine S.p.A. of Italy on a Taiwan Ministry of Defense programme to build six ship class of new mine countermeasures vessels for the ROC Navy.

The team will be led by Ching Fu Shipbuilding, with Lockheed Martin to provide the mine countermeasures systems for the vessels.

On the ROC programme, Lockheed Martin will also serve as the ship’s system integrator and procure, integrate, install, and test the entire combat management system for all six ships.  Various sub-systems that will comprise the overall Combat Management System will be procured from numerous European companies. 

The first ship of the class will be built in Italy and after being transferred to a brand-new Ching Fu shipyard in Kaohsiung, Lockheed Martin will install and test the combat management system. The remaining five ships will be built entirely in Taiwan.

Lockheed Martin will draw on its experience of adapting the Atlas SeaFox neutralizer - an expendable remotely operated system that identifies and neutralizes mines – for the US Navy, to enable the system to operate seamlessly from an MH-53E Dragon mine hunting helicopter and the Avenger-class mine countermeasure ship.

The company also produces the Remote Minehunting System, which provides the primary mine reconnaissance capability in the US Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship Mine Countermeasures Mission Package.