First vessel of Belgian-Dutch rMCM program conducts sea trials

July 19, 2024, by Fatima Bahtić

Oostende, the first of the series of mine countermeasures vessels in the BelgianDutch rMCM program, intended for the Belgian Navy, began its first sea trials.

As informed, the sea trials commenced from Concarneau on July 17, 2024. The goal is to implement and sea-test the vessel’s performance before its delivery in summer 2025.

The rMCM program is being led by Belgium Naval & Robotics, a consortium formed by Naval Group and Exail, and involves Kership (a joint venture between Piriou and Naval Group) as an industrial prime contractor.

During this first sea trial, the ship’s performance will be put to the test, in particular its propulsion and navigation systems. Several test campaigns will then follow to test all the systems.

“This first test campaign for a production ship is a technically very important and symbolically very powerful moment: it is the first time that a ship of this type has taken to sea, and this has been possible thanks to the mobilisation of our teams and our partners since the construction of this ship was launched three years ago,” Clémence Picard-Destelan, Naval Group’s onboard manager for this test campaign, said.

According to Naval Group, these specialized mine warfare vessels will be the first to have the capacity to embark, launch or fly and reconfigure a range of surface drones (vessels of around 12 meters and 19 tonnes), underwater drones and aerial drones.

The mine countermeasures vessels will use a fully robotized system to detect, classify, identify and neutralize mines. They can withstand underwater explosions and have very low acoustic, electrical and magnetic signatures, in line with the missions to be carried out.

These mine countermeasure vessels have the following characteristics:

Length: 82,6 meters;
Width: 17 meters;
Displacement: 2800 tons;
Maximum speed: 15,3 knots;
Range: >3500 nautical miles;
Crew: 63 people.

Oostende was launched in March 2023, followed by the second ship in the series, Vlissingen, for the Royal Netherlands Navy, in October 2023, and Tournai in June 2024.