The ATLAS Remote Combined Influence Minesweeping System (ARCIMS), which provides an autonomous minesweeping capability was handed over to the Royal Navy this week.
Following a period of successful trials off the Dorset coast, the demonstrator system could go on to be used by the Royal Navy in the future to defeat the threat of modern digital mnes. The system has been designed and manufactured by Atlas Elektronik UK under a £13 million contract working with DE&S and the RN’s Maritime Autonomous Systems Trials Team (MAST).
The sweeper system, features a “sense and avoid” capability and is the first step on the road to removing vulnerable ships and reducing the risk to personnel entering the minefield. The system will now undergo a series of more expansive trials with the RN. This mine-sweeping system represents a major milestone in the Navy’s transition to autonomous offboard systems to counter the threat posed to international shipping by the sea mine. Work on an associated mine-hunting system will begin in 2019.
ARCIMS will form part of the RN’s Mine countermeasures and Hydrographic capability (MHC) project. The autonomous system can be deployed from a “mothership”, but the form that will take is still far from decided. Potentially the mission bays of the Type 26 and Type 31 frigates could be utilised, along with auxiliaries or amphibious vessels. Whether the RN will ever again build dedicated minehunters is questionable. A hybrid OPV / minehunter concept like the Venari-85 is an intriguing possibility.
It is good to see the RN taking a lead in this area of innovation and Atlas Elektronik are already reporting potential export interest.
from Save the Royal Navy http://www.savetheroyalnavy.org/the-royal-navy-gets-its-first-unmanned-minesweeping-system/
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