Thales subsidiary lands US Navy contract for remote mine hunting modules

The RMH features Thales’ SAMDIS 600 sonar that can provide high-resolution imaging of potential mines. (Thales)

PARIS — Advanced Acoustic Concepts, a US defense subsidiary of the global defense giant Thales Group , has secured a $53.9 million contract with the US Navy to deliver at least two remote mine hunting (RMH) modules aimed at bolstering sailor safety when tracking mines.

“The ability to counter undersea mine threats remains fundamental to maritime security and naval mission success,” Rob Geckle, CEO of Thales North America, said in a statement Monday. “By advancing the Navy’s [mine countermeasures] capabilities, this program will help strengthen fleet readiness and support mission success in an increasingly dynamic operating environment.”

The contract comes as mine countermeasure operations have taken the spotlight amid operations in the Middle East like Operation Epic Fury , where US Central Command kicked off mine clearing missions in the Strait of Hormuz in April. President Donald Trump said in August mines in the waterway were cleared.

The contract also covers engineering support for the modules, and has the possibility to climb to $196.2 million for subsequent modules. The first two modules are slated for delivery by October 2029, with potential follow-on modules delivered through 2039 and beyond.

The RMH features Thales’ SAMDIS 600 sonar that can provide high-resolution imaging of potential mines, along with an AI software so sailors can analyze the data quickly and accurately, according to Thales. The SAMDIS 600 sonar was recently tested with an unmanned underwater vehicle from HII for a mine countermeasures exercise .

Tony Lengerich, vice president of naval programs with Thales Defense & Security, Inc., told Breaking Defense that Thales’ SAMDIS 600 sonar features a three-beam system that allows a “highly improved probability of certainty” during one sweep through a minefield.

“You get three looks at an object instead of just one look,” Lengerich said. “Those three pictures, if you will, really increase the certainty that you’re looking at a mine, not a Volkswagen somebody tossed in the ocean somewhere. So, speed of detection, speed of certainty, is now what we’re improving.”

Relatedly, Thales and HII announced today they recently teamed up to deploy Thales’ SAMDIS 600 sonar on HII’s Remus 620 UUV , which is capable of conducting long-range, multi-day operations.

Together, they used Thales’ Expeditionary Portable Operation Center command and control system to function as the “operational hub,” along with HII’s command and control software known as Odyssey to facilitate mission planning and management to scout potential mine threats, the firms said in a joint news release today.

“They can program that thing to go through the minefield surface, send back the data, and continue to keep searching,” Lengerich said.

Additionally, the exercise also employed HII’s automated launch and recovery system called Sea Launcher to deploy and retrieve the REMUS vehicle underwater. The launcher system can be paired with either manned or unmanned systems, further removing sailors from the minefield, according to HII.

“Keeping the sailor out of the field is a critical part of that,” Nicholas Green, senior manager of international business development with HII, told Breaking Defense. “But another part is actually getting the equipment in and out of the water. That’s always been a difficult part of what we do. And the Sea Launcher is the latest iteration of what we are offering for launch and recovery of our medium sized UUV.”

After analyzing the data collected from the sonar and UUV, the teams deployed Thales’ Advanced Acoustic Concepts’ ANGLER underwater effector to neutralize detected mines.

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RMH配备了泰雷兹公司的SAMDIS 600声呐，能够提供潜在水雷的高分辨率图像。（泰雷兹）

巴黎——全球防务巨头泰雷兹集团旗下的美国防务子公司先进声学概念公司已与美国海军签订了一份价值 5390 万美元的合同，将交付至少两个远程扫雷 (RMH) 模块，旨在提高水兵在追踪水雷时的安全性。

泰雷兹北美首席执行官罗伯·盖克尔周一在一份声明中表示：“应对水下水雷威胁的能力对于海上安全和海军任务的成功仍然至关重要。通过提升海军的[水雷反制]能力，该项目将有助于增强舰队战备水平，并在日益动态的作战环境中支持任务的成功。”

这份合同的签订正值中东地区开展“史诗狂怒行动”（Operation Epic Fury）等军事行动之际，扫雷行动成为关注焦点。在“史诗狂怒行动”中，美国中央司令部于4月启动了霍尔木兹海峡的扫雷任务。唐纳德·特朗普总统在8月表示，该水道中的水雷已被清除。

该合同还涵盖模块的工程支持，后续模块的合同金额可能高达1.962亿美元。前两个模块计划于2029年10月交付，后续模块的交付时间可能持续到2039年及以后。

据泰雷兹公司称，RMH 配备了泰雷兹的 SAMDIS 600 声呐，可提供潜在水雷的高分辨率图像，并配有人工智能软件，使水兵能够快速准确地分析数据。SAMDIS 600 声呐最近与 HII 公司的无人水下航行器配合进行了水雷对抗演习测试。

泰雷兹防务与安全公司海军项目副总裁托尼·伦格里奇告诉《防务新闻》，泰雷兹的 SAMDIS 600 声呐采用三波束系统，可在一次扫雷过程中“大大提高确定性的概率”。

“你可以三次观察同一个物体，而不是只有一次，”伦格里奇说。“这三张照片，如果你愿意这么称呼的话，确实能大大提高你确定你看到的是地雷而不是有人扔进海里的大众汽车的把握。所以，我们现在正在改进的是探测速度和确认速度。”

此外，泰雷兹和HII今天宣布，他们最近合作在HII的Remus 620 UUV上部署了泰雷兹的SAMDIS 600声呐，该UUV能够执行远程、多日作业。

两家公司今天在一份联合新闻稿中表示，他们共同使用泰雷兹公司的远征便携式作战中心指挥控制系统作为“作战中心”，并结合 HII 公司的名为 Odyssey 的指挥控制软件，以促进任务规划和管理，从而侦察潜在的地雷威胁。

“他们可以对那东西进行编程，让它穿过雷区表面，把数据传回，然后继续搜索，”伦格里奇说。

此外，此次演习还采用了HII公司名为“海上发射器”（Sea Launcher）的自动化发射回收系统，用于水下部署和回收REMUS水下航行器。据HII公司称，该发射系统可与有人或无人系统配合使用，从而进一步减少水兵在雷区作业。

“让水兵远离战场是其中的关键一环，”HII公司国际业务发展高级经理尼古拉斯·格林告诉《防务新闻》，“但另一环则是如何将设备放入水中和从水中取出。这始终是我们工作的难点所在。而海上发射器是我们为中型无人水下航行器（UUV）的发射和回收提供的最新产品。”

在分析了从声呐和无人水下航行器收集的数据后，各团队部署了泰雷兹先进声学概念公司的 ANGLER 水下效应器来消除探测到的水雷。

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