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The main aim of the project is to reach Technology Readiness level 6 (Technology demonstrated in relevant environment) for the autonomous minesweeping system.
Uncrewed systems are a familiar asset in naval capabilities, and they are being increasingly adopted. These types of assets and the technologies that go with them have the potential to offer a diverse mission set, minesweeping being one of them. The maritime drones and their payloads currently used and integrated by the navies operate with different levels of autonomy and endurance. This topic aims to enhance naval minesweeping capabilities by pushing the design and level of the autonomy of particularly maritime drones. Furthermore, this topic addresses sweep gear and sweep sources for minesweeping operations adjoining the higher level of autonomy. In this context the drone/platform and its payload/sweeping gear form the minesweeping system.
Minesweeping is traditionally performed using mechanical or influence sweep sources towed behind a highly specialised and expensive crewed platform (minesweeper). Evolving technologies, such as autonomous features, offer new solutions to the minesweeping systems. These solutions in concert with new operational concepts offer European navies the opportunity to maximise the benefits of common development. Typically, a distinction can be made between drones with towed signature sources and those with integrated sources installed aboard.
The size and capability of a minesweeping drone and its payload are defined by the operational needs. These needs vary in environmental aspects from inshore operations with short transit and limited operation times in sheltered areas to operations in unsheltered areas potentially exposed to heavy wind and large waves with long standoff distances. The variation in operational needs with respect to the subject of protection can be from smaller merchant vessels and military vessels with reduced underwater signatures to large civilian merchants with significant underwater signatures.
The underwater signature and the shock resistance of the minesweeping system is a crucial part of its design and a fundamental feature of minesweeping operations.
Details
- Project's acronym:
- EUROSWEEP
- Financial Program Name:
- European Defence Fund
- Organization:
- Komisja Europejska
- Realisation period:
- unknown - unknown
- Research team leader:
- mgr inż. Natalia Wiktorzak
- Realised in:
- Subsea Technology Laboratory
- External institutions
participating in project: -
- Marinom GmbH (Germany)
- Kongsberg Gruppen ASA (Norway)
- ABEKING & RASMUSSEN (Germany)
- Thales Group (France)
- Patria Group (Finland)
- Henriksen Shipping A/S (Denmark)
- VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland (Finland)
- MTG Marinetechnik GmbH (Germany)
- Baltic Institute of Advanced Technology (Lithuania)
- OceanScan - Marine Systems & Technology (Portugal)
- CyEx (Germany)
- Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (Norway)
- Bundeswehra (Germany)
- Sea Cross Marine AB (Sweden)
- IFEN SpA (Austria)
- Request type:
- International Research Programmes
- Domestic:
- International project
- Verified by:
- Gdańsk University of Technology
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