The Drifting Mines Detection (DMD) project has kicked off under the umbrella of the EDA Unmanned Maritime Systems (UMS) R&T programme.
Thales Air Systems (France) has been contracted by EDA on behalf of France and Belgium for the execution of the project. DMD has a duration of 30 months, value of 4.74 Million Euro.
Technically the project aims at assessing the possibility to detect drifting mines from different sensors and different platforms using existing radars and electro-optic sensors. At a first stage the project will develop and test an experimental demonstrator for mine detection at sea on a naval ship. An initial investigation of constraints for the application of the demonstrator on an Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) will also be performed. Depending on the results, such integration on a USV will take place at a second stage.
To perform the research, Thales Air Systems has teamed with the Royal Military Academy of Belgium.
Read more on UMS here.