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City-class mine countermeasures vessel

Ship design project of the Royal Netherlands Navy and Belgian Navy From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

City-class mine countermeasures vessel

The Netherlands and Belgium are doing a joint procurement for the replacements of the Tripartite-class/Alkmaar-class minehunters. Each of the two countries is procuring six new mine countermeasure (MCM) vessels, which makes for a total of 12 MCM ships.[20] 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.[21]

Quick Facts Class overview, General characteristics ...
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Artist impression of the MCM
Class overview
Name
  • City class (Belgium)
  • Vlissingen class (Netherlands)
Builders
Operators
Preceded by
Cost€166.67 million per unit[note 1]
BuiltSince November 2021[2]
In commissionPlanned from August 2025[3]
Planned12[4]
Building6
Completed0
General characteristics [5]
TypeMine countermeasures vessel
Displacement2,800 t (2,800 long tons) full load
Length82.30 m (270 ft 0 in)
Beam17 m (55 ft 9 in)
Draught3.80 m (12 ft 6 in)
Installed power32 MW (43,000 hp)
Propulsion
  • CODLAD:[5]
    • 1 × ABC 12VDZC diesel generator[6]
    • 2 × ABC 6DZC diesel generators[6]
    • 2 × MEP electric motors (1,800 kW each)
  • Propellers:[5]
    • 2 × Wärtsila axles with fixed pitch screws
    • 2 × Wärtsila transverse bow thrusters
    • 1 × Wärtsila transverse stern thruster
Speed15.3 knots (28.3 km/h; 17.6 mph)
Complement33 to 63
Sensors and
processing systems
  • Systems[7]
    • Combat system: Naval Group Polaris system[8]
    • Drone management system and data analysis: UMISOFT suite[1][9]
    • Naval Group Multi-Drone Mission System (MDMS)[10]
    • Containerized Command and Control Centre with the Mine Warfare System (MWS)[9]
  • Sonars:
    • Bow sonar: iXblue [fr] FLS 60[11]
    • Towed sonar:ECA T18-M[5]
    • Autonomous drone with sonar for mine detection: ECA A18-M AUV (equipped with Exail UMISAS 120 sonar)[5][9]
  • Radars:
    • Naval surveillance radar: Terma Scanter 6000[12]
    • Target tracking radar: Thales NS50 AESA[1]
  • Electro-optical sensors:
    • 2 × Sea Eagle FCEO stabilised cameras (HD and infrared) with laser rangefinder, (by Chess Dynamics)[13]
  • Communications:
    • Saab TactiCall ICS communication suite[10][14]
  • Navigation
    • iXblue inertial navigation system[11]
  • Underwater drones:
    • ECA Seascan MK2 (identifying mine)[5][9]
    • ECA K-STER C (disabling mines)'[5][9][15]
    • Patria Sonac ACS - Acoustic Minesweeping Systems drone[16]
    • Electronics for the drones by ST Engineering iDirect Belgium, a subcontractor of Exail[17]
Armament
Aircraft carried2 × UMS Skeldar V-200 unmanned aerial vehicles[5]
Notes
  • Surface boats:
    • 2 × 7 m SOLAS Viking RHIB[5]
    • 1 × ECA Inspector 125 unmanned vessel which deploys the drones[19] equipped with an Exail FLS-5 sonar[10])
  • Others:
    • Exail influence dragger with five integrated CTM magnetic modules
    • 1 × overhead crane
    • 1 × stern crane
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Design and development

Summarize
Perspective

In early 2018, the Belgian and Dutch Navies signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the joint construction and financing of the ships.[citation needed] 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.[22]
  • France's Naval Group and ECA Robotics [fr] established Belgian subsidiary Naval & Robotics and bid for the program.[23][24]
  • Imtech Belgium and Damen Group bid for the program.[23][24]

The contract was won by Naval Group and ECA Robotics on 15 March 2019.[23][24]

The mine countermeasures vessels have a length of 82 meters and displace 2,800 tonnes.[25] 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.[26] There are a total of around 80 unmanned systems aboard the vessels.[27]

Construction

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Perspective
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Oostende under construction at Concarneau in 2024

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.[citation needed] Delivery of the first ship to the Belgian Navy is anticipated in 2024 and to the Royal Netherlands Navy in 2025.[28] The first ship for the Royal Netherlands Navy started on the 4 March 2022, with a steel cutting ceremony.[citation needed] The keel was laid on 14 June 2022.[29]

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, Oostende, to be delivered eight months later than initially planned, pushing her commissioning back to 2025.[30] The second vessel, Vlissingen, is to be five-to-six months delayed, with Tournai and Scheveningen also seeing delays of two and one month(s) respectively.[31]

In July 2024, it was reported that the first mine countermeasures vessel, Oostende, had begun its sea trials.[32]

In November 2024 it was reported that operational qualification of the drone toolbox is planned to start during the first half of 2025.[33]

Equipment

Mission bay

The deployment system for the RHIB and the unmanned surface vessel was developed by Naval Group.[34] The mission bay is to be equipped with the "Launch and recovery system"(LARS).[35]

Drones

Surface vessels

The ECA Group [fr] INSPECTOR 125 unmanned surface vessel was ordered to be a centerpiece of the system. It has a low signature (magnetic and acoustic) which would prevent a mine from being triggered. The vessel is also designed to be unsinkable.[19] Its mission is focused on communications and deployment of the drones.[5] This vessel can be deployed from the mission bay by a handling system.[35]

Operators

Future operators

 Belgium (6)
Belgium gave the green-light to start the procurement on 26 January 2018 and approved a budget of 1.1 billion euros for the six Belgian MCM ships. Besides the Tripartite-class minehunters, the ships will also replace the Belgian logistical support ship Godetia.[36]
 Netherlands (6)
Contract for the MCM vessels in collaboration with Belgium in 2019, critical design review passed in June 2020.[37]

Potential operators

 France
At Euronaval 2022, a partnership was signed between the Belgian, Dutch and French navies to enhance cooperation between them. As a result, the French Navy intends to order six vessels based on the City-class design to fulfill the role of BDGM motherships planned in the ongoing SLAM-F mine warfare program.[38][39]

Ships in class

Summarize
Perspective
More information Name, No. ...
Name No. Builder Laid down Launched Comm. Status Notes
 Belgian Navy
City class
Oostende M-940 Shipyard ATG Giurgiu
(hull)

Piriou Concarneau [fr]

 30 Nov 2021[40] 29 Mar 2023[41] Aug 2025[3] Sea trials[42] Initially planned for December 2024[3]
Tournai M-941 29 Mar 2023[41] 2 Jul 2024[43] Mar 2026[3] Fitting out Initially planned for January 2026[3]
Brugge M-942 31 Jan 2024[44] – Dec 2026[3] Under construction
Liège M-943 – – Dec 2027[3] Under construction[45]
Antwerpen M-944 – – Dec 2028[3] –
Rochefort M-945 – – Dec 2029[3] –
 Royal Netherlands Navy
Vlissingen class
Vlissingen M-840 Kership Lorient [fr] 14 Jun 2022[46] 29 Sep 2023[47] End 2025[3] Under construction[48] Initially planned for June 2025[3]
Scheveningen M-841 Shipyard ATG Giurgiu
(hull)

ECA Group [fr]

Kership Lorient [fr]
(fitting out)

 19 Jul 2023[49] 5 Nov 2024[50] July 2026[3] Under construction Initially planned for June 2026[3]
IJmuiden M-842 11 Jun 2024[51] – June 2027[3] Under construction
Harlingen M-843 – – June 2028[3] –
Delfzijl M-844 – – June 2029[3] –
Schiedam M-845 – – June 2030[3] –
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  Planned commissionning

See also

Footnotes

  1. [N 1]
    Unit cost is based on the May 2019 €2 billion contract for 12 systems for the Belgian Naval Component and the Royal Netherlands Navy.[1]

References

Further reading

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