First sea trials of the Vlissingen MCM vessel for the Dutch Navy

The Vlissingen, the second of the series of Mine Countermeasures (MCM) vessels of the Belgian-Dutch rMCM program, intended for the Royal Netherlands Navy, began her first sea trials campaign from Concarneau, France, in March. The aim is to implement and test at sea the vessel’s performance before its delivery at the end of 2025. The rMCM program is being led by Belgium Naval & Robotics, a consortium formed by Naval Group and Exail, involving Kership (a joint venture between Piriou and Naval Group) as industrial prime contractor.

Awarded in 2019, the rMCM programme is a major component of European defence cooperation. Naval Group is responsible for ship design, overall mission systems integration, testing and commissioning. The ships are built and assembled by Kership and Chantier Piriou, under the overall industrial management of Kership, a joint venture between Naval Group and Piriou. Exail is in charge of the drones and mission systems. Most of these drones will be produced and maintained by Exail’s Belgian subsidiary based in Ostend.

During her first day at sea, the ship tested her propulsion system and manoeuvrability. Several sea trials campaigns will then follow to test all the systems, before her delivery at the end of 2025.

The first vessel, Oostende, intended for the Belgian Navy, is currently undergoing trials of her combat system in Naval Group’s Lorient shipyard. She will be delivered during the summer of 2025. The first sea trials of the Tournai, third vessel of the program and second unit intended for the Belgian Navy, are planned for the end of the northern summer of 2025. All twelve vessels ordered in the frame of the rMCM program will be delivered before end of 2030.

These specialised and cyber-secured MCM vessels are the first to have the capability to embark and launch a combination of surface drones (themselves 12-metre, 19- tonne vessels), underwater drones and aerial drones. The MCM vessels will use a mainly autonomous system for detection, classification, identification and neutralisation of mines This approach with an unmanned integrated system enables safe and rapid clearance of mined areas, up to ten times faster than traditional methods according to Exail.

The RAN had an autonomous MCM program planned, Project SEA1905, for which Exail was shortlisted, but this was quietly dropped last year with no reason given.