RN gets leash of autonomous minehunters
Third and final autonomous minehunter delivered to Clyde naval base.
RNMB Hebe has joined her sister vessels Harrier and Hazard as part of the royal Navy’s minehunting programme Project Wilton. All three boats are capable of working manually, remotely or autonomously to detect and classify mines and maritime ordnance.
The entire system is highly flexible and rapidly deployable, capable of being loaded onto trucks and transported to wherever it is required to conduct survey and mine hunting operations.
Lieutenant Commander Ross Balfour, Officer-in-Charge of Project Wilton, said: “RNMB Hebe is the final piece in the jigsaw of Project Wilton’s maritime capability.
“The vessel is a 15-metre Vahana boat, four-metres longer than the other Project Wilton vessels. AEUK have made significant upgrades resulting in Hebe having an organic command, control and communications capability which allows the autonomous control of her sister vessel Harrier.”
