Australian-French partnership to develop autonomous MCM systems for Royal Australian Navy

Australian company Total Marine Technology (TMT) and French unmanned systems specialist ECA Group have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to collaborate on the SEA 1905 Phase 1 – Tranche 1 program of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) for the latter's future maritime mine countermeasures (MCM) and military survey capability.

The autonomous vehicles to be developed by the partners will be deployed aboard a new class of warships that will replace the RAN's four remaining Huon-class coastal minehunters. These new motherships will based on the RAN's future Arafura-class offshore patrol vessels (OPVs).

The RAN expects to introduce the new MCM and survey systems by 2023 or 2024 with initial operational capability (IOC) being achieved by the end of 2024.

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