Page 30 - Australian Defence Magazine Dec19-Jan20

30 DEFENCE BUSINESS PACIFIC
DECEMBER 2019 – JANUARY 2020 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
DEWC ON SHOW AT PACIFIC
LEFT: DEWC have delivered and supported a range of EW capabilities including services to the Romeo helicopter fleet.
UNMANNED MINE COUNTER MEASURES ON SHOW
JULIAN KERR | SYDNEY
AS part of Project Sea 1778 Phase 1 Deployable Mine Coun- termeasures, the pending delivery to the RAN via project prime Thales of four Bluefin-9 and three larger Bluefin-12 autonomous unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs) was con- firmed by General Dynamics Mission Systems.
The UUVs, to be based at HMAS Waterhen in Sydney, will search for, classify and identify sea mines, providing a maritime task group with an “initial, interim, mine counter- measures capability”, a Defence spokesperson said.
The RAN is receiving the latest generation of Bluefin-12, which weighs 213kg and can carry multiple payloads simulta-
neously for mine countermeasures and unexploded ordnance detection in the littoral zone at depths of up to 200 metres.
The vehicle design includes swappable payload sections and lithium-ion battery modules. Endurance is around 24 hours at three knots.
Both the Bluefin 12 and Bluefin 9 can compress and send snippets of data acoustically, but data is generally processed onboard in a data storage module removeable for plugging into topside hardware.
Bluefin-9 features an integrated multi-aperture side scan sonar that delivers a 200 metre swatch range sonar and at 70kg is easily two-man portable. Endurance is eight hours at three knots or 12 hours at two knots.
In a linked development, informed sources disclosed the RAN had recently taken delivery of a number of Atlas Elek- tronik SeaFox expendable mine neutralisation systems with an operational depth of 300 metres.
Already in service with 10 navies, the fibreoptic-guided one-shot mine disposal vehicle is able to automatically relo- cate previously-acquired underwater objects within minutes with its integrated homing sonar.
The objects can then be identified using onboard CCTV and destroyed with a built-in, large-calibre shaped charge. Unin- tentional mine triggering is rated as a mission success. ■
ABOVE: The Bluefin-9 was also used in the search for MH370 on Ocean Protector.
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