TSAMTO, March 31. On March 29, the official ceremony of launching the lead of 12 minesweepers ordered as part of a project jointly implemented by the Ministry of Defense of Belgium and the Netherlands took place at the shipyard in Concarneau.
The M940 Ostend ship will be completed at the Piriou enterprise in Concarneau, after which it will be delivered to the Belgian Navy in December 2024. Its home port will be the Zeebrugge Naval Base.
The event was attended by Belgian Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder, Dutch Defense Minister Kaisa Ollongren and Secretary of State for Veterans and Remembrance Affairs under the Minister of the Armed Forces Patricia Miralles. On the same day, the laying of the keel of the third of the twelve ships, M941 "Tournai" (Tournai), which is also intended for the Belgian Navy, took place.
As reported by CAMTO, on November 30, 2016, the Defense Ministers of Belgium and the Netherlands signed the first memorandum of understanding providing for the joint purchase of four frigates and 12 minesweepers.
In July 2019, the Ministries of Defense of Belgium and the Netherlands signed a contract with the consortium Belgium Naval & Robotics selected by the results of the tender (formed by Naval Group and ECA Robotics) for the supply of 12 new mine warfare systems based on minesweepers. Each of the two countries buys six ships equipped with appropriate mine defense systems, including about a hundred underwater unmanned vehicles. The cost of a 10-year contract for the supply and maintenance of systems is estimated at 2.2 billion. euro.
The construction of 12 ships will be carried out in Concarneau and Lanester by the Kership joint venture formed by Naval Group and Piriou. The Naval Group company acts as the main developer and general contractor, is responsible for the design of ships, general integration, as well as testing and adoption of a combat system and a mine defense system. The ECA Group is responsible as a subcontractor for the unmanned vehicle system (since October 2022, the ECA Group has been acting jointly with iXblue under the Exail Robotics brand). The production of unmanned vehicles will be organized at the Exail enterprise in Ostend (Belgium). Maintenance of the vessels will be carried out in Belgium jointly by the Belgian Navy and Naval Group Belgium with the participation of Flanders Ship Repair.
The cutting ceremony of the first steel for the construction of the lead minesweeper took place on July 19, 2021. It is planned that the first ship will be delivered to the Belgian Navy in 2024, and to the Dutch Navy in 2025. The last platform should be delivered in 2030.
The acquired vessels will replace 5 Tripartit-class minesweeping ships of the Belgian Navy, as well as the Godetiya support ship and 6 Tripartit-class minesweeping ships of the Netherlands Navy. The operational life of the existing vessels exceeds 30 years and expires in 2023.
