Royal Navy to launch robot ships to hunt for mines in £184m deal with French

ROBOT mine hunters are set to replace sailors, the Ministry of Defence has announced as part of a £184 million programme with the French navy.

The Anglo-french programme to detect and neutralise mines will work from an autonomous vessel controlled from a nearby “mother ship” or shorebased location. The unmanned ship will have a towed sonar and a remotely operated underwater bomb to destroy any suspect items.

Speaking at the Franco-british Council Defence Conference, Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, said the new system was “designed to replace conventional crewed mine hunting vessels with autonomous systems”. He added: “Not only does this investment represent a leap forward to our ability to detect and neutralise sea mines [it] creates jobs, generates prosperity, and will enable us to keep those vital sea lanes open – reducing the risk to our ships and the lives of our sailors.”

The development of the mine hunters was part of an Anglo-french programme. The French navy is expected to purchase its own squadron, which could see the two militaries work together. They already cooperate on counter-terror operations in North Africa. The French army is also due to join the British mission in Estonia.

The new Maritime Mine Counter Measures programme, due to enter service in 2022, will involve Royal Navy mine warfare sailors operating from shore bases or portable operating centres in containers loaded on to the back of other vessels or commercial platforms. The Royal Navy is regularly called upon to deal with mines and other ordnance left over from the Second World War. A squadron of mine hunters is based in Bahrain to keep the Gulf open to shipping and deter Iran from threatening the Strait of Hormuz.

The new autonomous vessel is designed to operate ahead of naval forces, with “line of sight” to the operation centre. A towed sonar will search for suspicious objects. Once a mine or other suspect item is discovered the vessel will send a munition, controlled by cable, to explode next to the object.

The contract will support 215 jobs across the UK at sites belonging to Thales, the defence firm, in Somerset and Plymouth, as well as in the wider supply chain including L3harris in Portsmouth, Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire and Alba Ultrasound in Glasgow.