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Clearing naval mines remains one of the most dangerous and time-consuming tasks at sea. Mines can sit on the seabed for decades, threatening shipping lanes, ports, offshore infrastructure, and naval operations. Traditional mine countermeasures rely heavily on crewed vessels and slow, methodical sweeps—approaches that expose personnel to risk and struggle to scale across large or complex underwater areas.
A new autonomous concept aims to change how mine clearance is carried out by turning it into a coordinated, multi-robot operation. The idea links an unmanned surface vessel with a swarm of autonomous underwater vehicles, allowing detection, classification, and clearance to be handled as a single, integrated process rather than a sequence of separate missions.
According to NextGenDefense, at the center of the system is the WP960 unmanned surface vessel, which acts as a mobile carrier and command hub. From the surface, it deploys and recovers up to eight Eelume S All-Terrain autonomous underwater vehicles. These AUVs operate close to the seabed, where they can search for mines buried in sediment or resting on the bottom—areas that are often difficult to inspect with surface sensors alone.
During operations, the underwater vehicles collect high-resolution sonar and sensor data and relay it back to the surface vessel. There, an AI-based object recognition software analyzes the information to help operators distinguish between mines, debris, and natural features. This reduces the workload on human analysts and speeds up decision-making, especially during long or repetitive survey missions.
The vehicle itself is designed for flexibility and rapid deployment. Measuring just under 10 meters in length in its base configuration, it can carry heavy mission payloads while maintaining high maneuverability. Twin waterjet propulsion allows slow, stable movement during survey work and fast transit speeds when repositioning. The vessel can be transported by road, ship, or aircraft, enabling quick deployment to different operational areas.
Autonomous mine countermeasures reduce the need to place crews in harm’s way and allow ports, sea lanes, and offshore assets to be cleared more quickly after conflict or sabotage. The same architecture can also support seabed surveillance, infrastructure inspection, and environmental monitoring, making it useful beyond purely military missions.
By combining a surface “carrier” with a coordinated underwater swarm, the system reflects a broader shift toward distributed, autonomous maritime operations—where multiple unmanned platforms work together to handle tasks that once required large crews and specialized ships.
