TSAMTO, August 23. The French company ECA Group has completed factory tests of control and control systems, as well as mine detection and neutralization systems for three modernized minesweepers of the Latvian Navy.
As reported by Navaltoday.com Soon, these systems will be integrated on board three Imanta-class minesweepers of the Latvian Navy (former Dutch Alkmaar-class ships).
Thus, the Latvian navy will be the first to receive a remotely controlled mine warfare system specially developed by the ECA Group for use as part of the modernization programs of minesweeping ships of the previous generation.
As previously reported by TSAMTO, a contract worth 40.04 million lats (about 57 million euros) for the supply of five Alkmaar-class minesweepers from the Dutch Navy was signed by representatives of the Latvian and Dutch Defense Ministries on August 24, 2005. The transfer of the first minesweeper M04 "Imanta" took place on March 7, 2007. The minesweepers M05 "Viesturs", M06 "Talivardis" and M07 "Visvaldis" were transferred to the Latvian Navy on September 5, 2007, April 4, 2008 and October 24, 2008, respectively.
During the acceptance of the ships, it was found that they were in unsatisfactory technical condition. Two minesweepers required replacement of the power plant. In addition, Latvia initially did not receive a complete set of documentation, for which it was necessary to additionally pay about 500 thousand euros. The revealed violations led to the resignation in September 2009 of the Commander of the Latvian Navy, Captain 1st Rank A. Pavlovich, and the Latvian Defense Ministry eventually refused to accept the fifth ship.
ECA Group has announced the receipt of a contract worth more than 20 million euros, providing for the modernization of three Alkmaar-class minesweepers of the Latvian Navy, on September 28, 2020. According to the announced schedule, the upgraded ships were planned to be handed over to the customer in 2021, 2023 and 2024. ECA Group announced the implementation of the first stage of the modernization program of three Latvian ships on June 11, 2021.
It provided for the dismantling of outdated equipment. As reported, after a critical review of the architecture of the ships, specialists will begin installing new equipment in October 2021.
In particular, ECA Group specialists will install and configure an integrated remotely controlled mine warfare system UMIS (Unmanned Mine Countermeasures Integrated System) on three modernized minesweepers.
UMIS Toolbox is a comprehensive set of modern technologies for unmanned mine clearance operations, eliminating the need for a ship to enter a mined area.
For the Latvian Navy, ECA Group will replace the traditional shipboard mine detection systems based on hull sonar with a more compact, mobile and constantly upgraded UMIS unmanned system equipped with the latest generation A18-M AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) unmanned vehicles, UMISAS synthetic aperture echo sounder and several SEASCAN MK2 and K-STER C underwater robots. to detect and neutralize mines. The new Ultra Short Baseline positioning system, installed instead of the hull sonar, allows not only to track mines, but also to provide acoustic communication, replacing the previous acoustic module that had to be launched from the deck.
The French company is also responsible for the modernization of the navigation system, consisting of the electronic cartographic and information system W-ECDIS, the positioning system USBL Gaps M7, the compact inertial navigation system Phins C7 from iXblue, as well as the new autopilot SIREHNA.
During the factory acceptance tests, the control of the minesweeper using W-ECDIS and autopilot was successfully tested, the functionality of sensors and interfaces were tested. Also, the Latvian Navy successfully completed the mine identification scenario using the SEASCAN kit and simulated firing using the K-STER system.
According to the contract, as part of the modernization of each of the three ships, 10 K-STER systems, two SEASCAN mine detection systems and a medium-sized A18-M AUV unit with common software will be delivered.
ECA Group modifies minesweepers with the support of its subsidiary MAURIC and Latvian industrial partners. Consultations were held with several Latvian companies on the supply of equipment and coordination of work on site.
