City-class mine countermeasures vessel


The Netherlands and Belgium are conducting a joint procurement for the replacements of the Tripartite-class/Alkmaar-class minehunters. Each of the two countries is procuring six new mine countermeasure vessels, which makes for a total of 12 MCM ships. The new MCM ships, developed by Naval Group, will include a range of unmanned systems including unmanned surface, aerial and underwater vehicles alongside towed sonars and mine identification and neutralization remotely operated vehicles.

Design and development

In early 2018, the Belgian and Dutch Navies signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the joint construction and financing of the ships. A list of requirements was drawn up for the new vessels. Contenders in the race were:
  • The Franco-Belgium consortium made up of French shipbuilders STX France and Socarenam, and Thales together with Belgium's EDR are bidding for the 12 new MCM vessels. Their plan includes the construction of MCM vessels named Sea Naval Solutions and a multi-role frigate named Deviceseas, which will serve as mothership to the MCM vessels. All ships will have a strong focus on autonomous systems operations.
  • France's Naval Group and established Belgian subsidiary Naval & Robotics and bid for the program.
  • Imtech Belgium and Damen Group bid for the program.
The contract was won by Naval Group and ECA Robotics on 15 March 2019.
The mine countermeasures vessels have a length of 82 meters and displace 2,800 tonnes. The new vessels take a new approach to their task: instead of clearing mines directly from the ship, the ship uses unmanned systems to do this from a distance. There are a total of around 80 unmanned systems aboard the vessels.

Construction

A first steel cutting ceremony for the first-in-class ship for the Belgian Navy was held on 19 July 2021, with the keel being laid on 30 November 2021. Delivery of the first ship to the Belgian Navy is anticipated in 2024 and to the Royal Netherlands Navy in 2025. The first ship for the Royal Netherlands Navy started on the 4 March 2022, with a steel cutting ceremony. The keel was laid on 14 June 2022.
On 8 May 2024, the Belgian Ministry of Defence announced that contractor Belgium Naval & Robotics requested a delay to the construction of the first four vessels citing unforeseen circumstances. The delay caused the first vessel,, to be delivered eight months later than initially planned, pushing her commissioning back to 2025. The second vessel, Vlissingen, is to be five-to-six months delayed, with Tournai and Scheveningen also seeing delays of two and one month respectively.
In July 2024, it was reported that the first mine countermeasures vessel, Oostende, had begun its sea trials.
In November 2024 it was reported that operational qualification of the drone toolbox is planned to start during the first half of 2025.

Equipment

Mission bay

The deployment system for the RHIB and the unmanned surface vessel was developed by Naval Group. The mission bay is to be equipped with the "Launch and recovery system".

Drones

Surface vessels

The INSPECTOR 125 unmanned surface vessel was ordered to be a centerpiece of the system. It has a low signature which would prevent a mine from being triggered. The vessel is also designed to be unsinkable. Its mission is focused on communications and deployment of the drones. This vessel can be deployed from the mission bay by a handling system.

Operators

;

Future operators

;

Potential operators

;
;