Investment in mine defence

Finally upgrading the German Navy's mine defence capabilities

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the end of the South flank mine defence unit. This mission, which has almost been forgotten, was one of the first missions of the navy - indeed of the Bundeswehr in general - under threat. The task was to clear mines in the Persian Gulf that jeopardised shipping after the Gulf War. The Allies had specifically asked Germany to deploy their mine defence capabilities, as they were known for their professionalism, technical skills and resources. In fact, there was no type of mine that could not be dealt with and so the operation ended successfully. At the time, Germany was the leader in MCM components in NATO, if not in the world. Marineforum will report on this in issue 9.

Throwing a practice mine on board MiJgdBoot Weilheim 2019, photo: Marcel Kröncke

Over the years, however, the mine defence component was reduced in size, with ten of the former 70 units remaining. Increasingly, these units were also deployed for other tasks, which was not good for maintaining their capabilities. Although Mine defence vehicles also excellent patrol boats, but they had them in the Mediterranean at UNIFIL boats were not built. In the meantime, the decline in capabilities has been halted, the focus is once again on mine warfare, and the extensive capabilities have been retained on a few platforms. For years now, they have been waiting not only to procure a successor to these boats, but also to upgrade the existing ones for the last decade of their service life. The boats that have been in service since the 1990s were designed and built by the German shipyard Abeking & Rasmussen back. This shipyard has accompanied the German navy in the development of mine defence for decades and is therefore also internationally respected, as will also be described in issue 9. The special feature of the boats is the use of non-magnetic steel, which guarantees self-protection against mines. Decades of German expertise are now taking a logical and more than necessary development step.

Minehunting boat Weilheim in the Baltic Sea 2019, Photo: German Navy / Marcel Kröncke

Now the Federal Office of Bundeswehr Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support (BAAINBw) has created facts. With Atlas Electronics a contract with an order volume of 44 million euros was concluded for the procurement of additional command and weapon deployment systems for the minehunting boats. The minehunting boats DILLINGEN, HOMBURG, SULZBACH-ROSENBERG, FULDA and WEILHEIM of the Frankenthal class (MJ332) will be equipped with the latest version of the IMCMS command and weapon deployment system (Integrated Mine Countermeasures System). The sea mine defence network currently consists of five class 332C minehunting boats, which detect mines with minehunting sonar and combat them with SEEFUCHS drones or mine divers. Three type 332CL minehunting boats can also deploy SEEHUND minesweeping drones. Two type 332B boats are used as mine-diving vessels.

Mine diver, Photo: German Navy/Bienert

Until new systems are introduced, the German Navy will be able to maintain its high-performance components "over time". it is hoped that the project will then be realised "Maritime Mine Countermeasures New Generation (MMCM NG)" together with the Netherlands and Belgium, also known as the "big MCM nations", as well as Estonia, Sweden and Norway.

The decision to invest 44 million euros in mine defence was made at the last meeting of the Bundestag's Budget Committee before the summer break and therefore the last meeting before the Bundestag elections in autumn. In total, funds for 27 armaments projects totalling almost 20 billion euros were released.

Text: BAAInBw / Schlüter