ECA Robotics to manufacture and deliver unmanned naval systems for Belgian and Dutch navies.

According to a press release published on September 21, 2020, ECA Robotics, a French subsidiary of ECA GROUP, has recently signed a contract worth several hundred million euros. This contract comprises the outsourcing to its Belgian subsidiary ECA Robotics Belgium of the manufacturing and delivery of unmanned vehicles dedicated to underwater mine countermeasures as part of the renewal of the mine countermeasures capacity of the Belgian and Dutch Navies.
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ECA Robotics to manufacture and deliver unmanned surface vessels and drones for the Belgian and Dutch navies. (Picture source ECA Group)

Belgium and the Netherlands have awarded the renewal program to the consortium Belgium Naval & Robotics, set up by Naval Group and ECA GROUP. This program consists of 12 new generation vessels (six for the Belgian Navy and six for the Royal Netherlands Navy) and containerized systems. It is the first program that applies the stand-off concept by using a Toolbox. This Toolbox is comprised of several unmanned vehicles that operators can command and deploy from a safe distance in order to carry out autonomous mine countermeasure missions.

The contract that ECA Robotics France awards to ECA Robotics Belgium involves the manufacturing, supplying, and delivery of the following products that include different types of naval drones and software for the management of the mission and data analysis. 

On May 23, 2020, a new contractual milestone was crossed by the Belgium Naval & Robotics teams. Exactly one year after the notification of the contract in 2019, this program, which provides for the supply of twelve mine hunters equipped with drone systems (Toolbox) to the Belgian and Dutch navies, reaches a new milestone.

The twelve ships will be equipped with a total of a hundred drones managed in a pool called Toolbox, shared by the two navies and supplied by ECA Group. The configuration of the Toolbox, used onboard each ship or deployed from the shore, will vary depending on the typology of the missions. 

It will consist of surface drones INSPECTOR 125-M, INSPECTOR 125-S, underwater drone A18-M, T18-M towed sonar, as wells as MIDS system (Mine Identification and Disposal System) consisting of the SEASCAN MK2 and the K-STER C. These two components respectively ensure the identification and the clearance of the mines.

ECA will also supply its V200 Skeldar UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) with integrated payloads (LiDAR, optronics pod) for the detection and identification of surface mines, and communication relay.

The unmanned vehicles will be manufactured in a new, very modern plant to be built in Ostend, Belgium. The building will start early 2021 so that production can commence in 2022.

The contract for twelve minehunters for the Belgian and Dutch navies will span over ten years. After a design period of three years, Belgium Naval & Robotics will move on to the production phase of these ships and drone systems, with an initial delivery scheduled for 2024. Six ships will be delivered to the Belgian navy and six to the Dutch navy; they will be equipped with a complete drones system (Toolbox) containing a total of more than a hundred underwater, surface and aerial drones entirely dedicated to mine hunting.