Mine Warfare: Thales MMCM milestones and Pathmaster unmanned MCM solution

Naval News earlier this year visited the Thales site of Brest to learn about the latest developments in the French-British MMCM program. We learned about some key milestones being achieved. ===================== Guy Le Bihan, MMCM Chief Engineer at Thales, explained to Naval News that the culmination of MMCM “phase 1“ was the live demonstration of the entire “system of systems“ with back-to-back tests. These tests took place in very different environments in Brest, Toulon, and Plymouth, involving a complex set of scenarios and sub-scenarios. Carried out in autumn and early winter, testing was ramped up rapidly from 8-10 hour slots to 24/7 evaluation. The unmanned vehicles covered an equivalent of 30,000 football pitches – demonstrating an outstanding, threefold, increase in MCM productivity, compared with purely conventional approaches. Dozens of mines were detected, in all environmental conditions, and then classified and localised to clear the seas of threats. The Franco-British Maritime Mine Counte