Oostende mine countermeasures vessel begins sea trials
The Oostende is the first in a fleet of 12 mine-clearing vessels using robotic drone solutions to make the process faster and safer. (Photo: Naval Group)
The first vessel in the Belgian-Dutch rMCM mine-clearing fleet, the Oostende, has begun its sea trials before officially entering service in 2025.
The first mine countermeasures vessel in the Belgian-Dutch rMCM programme, the Oostende, has begun its sea trials ahead of its scheduled delivery in the summer of 2025.
The rMCM is a remote mine clearance project, which will ultimately consist of 12 ships. Three of the 12 ships currently exist and seven are in some stage of construction or completion all told.
The Oostende is the first ship of its kind to take to the water, as its mine-hunting operations are fully robotic. That means that drones will be used to find, classify, identify, and neutralise subsea mines, while the vessels and their crews stand off at a safe distance.
Intended for eventual use by the Belgian Navy, the initial sea trails will test the Oostende’s propulsion and navigation systems. Other vital systems, including those of the all-important drones, will be tested between July, 2024 and the summer of 2025, when if all goes well, the vessel will begin the work of mine-clearing.
The rMCM programme is led by Belgium Naval & Robotics, a consortium formed by Naval Group and Exail, and involves Kership (a joint venture between Piriou and Naval Group) as industrial prime contractor.
Naval Group claimed that the ships and their drones will not only keep personnel significantly safer during mine-spotting and clearing duties, but also that they will significantly speed up the process of dealing with them. In fact, it said the robotic solution would be ten times faster than traditional mine clearance operations.
Clémence Picard-Destelan, onboard manager for Oostende’s sea trials at Naval Group, said: “This first test campaign for a production ship is a technically very important and symbolically very powerful moment. It is the first time that a ship of this type has taken to sea.”
Given the experimental nature of the solution to the subsea mine problem, the Oostende and its sibling ships are being built to withstand underwater explosions, with very low acoustic, electrical and magnetic signatures. They will each carry a range of drones for use on the surface, underwater, and in the air, to carry out their mine-spotting and mine-clearing duties.
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