Atlas Elektronik to supply the UK with new uncrewed minehunting system.

According to information published by Atlas Elektronik UK on January 31, 2022, the company has been contracted by the DE&S Mine Hunting Capability (MHC) team to deliver a further ARCIMS uncrewed minehunting system for the Royal Navy.
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RNMB Harrier vessel (Picture source: Atlas Elektronik)

As informed, the uncrewed surface vessel-based system named RNMB HYDRA will complement the four existing ARCIMS systems (RNMBs HUSSAR, HALCYON, HARRIER, and HAZARD) being supplied to the Royal Navy for minesweeping and minehunting tasks.

According to the company, RNMB HYDRA will be fitted with advanced sense and avoid autonomy, a launch and recovery system (LARS), and towed side-scan sonar.

The command and control will be from a portable command centre (PCC) and combine UXV autonomy software with Seebyte’s planning and analysis software.

The platform will be delivered to the Royal Navy by late 2022 and deployed for operational evaluation in early 2023, the company concluded.

To remind, the navy took delivery of 3rd autonomous minehunting boat RNMB Hebe in June 2021. The boat joined its sister vessels Harrier and Hazard as part of the Royal Navy’s crewless minehunting program Project Wilton.

RNMB Harrier can operate in three modes – manually, remotely and autonomously – giving a large range of flexibility to deploy either Towed Side Scan Sonar systems or Autonomous Underwater Vehicles.

This provides the ability to very accurately survey the seabed and, after trained analysis, determine the presence of mines and other underwater threats.