The Royal Navy recently took delivery of the final one of three autonomous minehunting boats developed under a technology demonstration project.
The 15-metre RNMB Hebe, named after the ancient Greek goddess of youth, has now joined sister vessels RNMB Harrier and RNMB Hazard as part of the Royal Navy's crewless minehunting programme Project Wilton.
Measuring four metres longer than her sisters and with more technology on board, Hebe is able to work in isolation on operations but may also be integrated with existing equipment.
The boats are capable of working in different configurations – manually, remotely or autonomously – to detect and classify mines and maritime ordnance.
The Project Wilton team is currently undertaking comprehensive trials and a capability development programme to ensure that the boats are ready to deliver route survey operations.
The entire system is highly flexible and rapidly deployable, capable of being loaded onto trucks and transported to wherever it is required to conduct survey and minehunting operations.
