New mine defence vehicles for European navies

As their mine countermeasure boats are on average around 30 years old, most European navies are replacing existing weapon systems with a mix of mother ships and unmanned plug-and-play systems to manage a full detect-to-engage cycle.

The navies of Northern, Western and Southern Europe continue to receive the majority of funding for new construction programmes, while the Eastern European navies, for example from Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine, are attempting to modernise their existing ships. As of September 2022, there are fourteen Mine Countermeasures (MCM) projects for European navies with a total of 82 platforms in the pipeline. Five of these projects are already underway and nine are planned. The following overview begins with the navies of Western Europe.

The binational replacement programme rMCM of the Belgian Navy and the Royal Netherlands Navy for mine countermeasures systems is in full swing. The keel of the first ship for the Belgian Navy, the OOSTENDE, was laid on 30 November 2021 at the Kership shipyard in Concarneau, while the keel of the first ship for the Dutch Navy, the VLISSINGEN, was laid on 14 June 2022 at the Group's shipyard in Lanester. The units will be delivered in 2024 and 2025.