ATLAS ELEKTRONIK UK (AEUK) has been awarded a contract by Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S)’s Mine Hunting Capability (MHC) team to supply Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) for the UK Royal Navy.
The £32 million contract includes delivery of three MHC AUVs comprising nine vehicles in total along with a comprehensive training and support package to run for three years from delivery.
“This innovative technology is a huge leap forward for the Royal Navy and will be crucial to protecting the security and safety of our personnel,” said Minister for Defense Procurement, Jeremy Quin. “Supporting wider British industry, it also reinforces our focus on ensuring the UK remains at the forefront of tackling defense threats.”
“We are very proud the advanced mine countermeasures technology that AEUK has invested in over the years is now being provided to the Royal Navy for their flagship Mine Counter Measures (MCM) operational evaluation program,” said Wesley Galliver, Head of Surface Ship Systems. “MCM is at the heart of our business and AEUK are delighted to enhance the Royal Navy’s autonomous systems capability.”
The MHC AUV combines the ATLAS ELEKTRONIK GmbH medium-sized SeaCat AUV, fitted with the latest AEUK high resolution Vision Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) and the Seebyte Neptune and Military software for advanced planning and analysis. AEUK has worked with Lidan Marine to develop a remote AUV handling system for the MHC AUV project, providing a Launch and Recovery System (LARS) suitable for operation from platforms such as the Royal Navy’s ARCIMS USVs and SEA Class workboats.
This delivery to the MHC team will see AEUK providing another MCM toolbox element, alongside the in-service ARCIMS Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs), with their advanced minesweeping payloads and towed minehunting sonars, enabled by AEUK’s unmanned vehicle autonomy software and sensors.
