Thales Delivers Rapidly Developed Expeditionary Portable Operations Centre for French Navy Mine Countermeasures

Thales Delivers Rapidly Developed Expeditionary Portable Operations Centre for French Navy Mine Countermeasures

(IN BRIEF) Thales, a global leader in defense technology, announces the successful development and delivery of the Expeditionary Portable Operations Centre (e-POC) for the French Navy’s drone-based mine countermeasures capability. Developed in less than six months, the e-POC demonstrator enables naval forces to efficiently conduct mine countermeasures missions using unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). The innovative solution, based on the M-Cube and MiMap systems, enhances force agility by allowing operators to control up to three UUVs simultaneously from a single computer setup, either onboard a ship or at a shore station. Thales’s e-POC demonstrates a fusion of innovation and agility, augmenting the defensive capabilities of the French Navy and ensuring the safety of naval personnel in diverse operational environments.

(PRESS RELEASE) ROME, 11-Mar-2024 — /EuropaWire/ — The French defence procurement agency (DGA) placed an order with Thales, via the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAr), for the provision of an Expeditionary Portable Operations Centre (e-POC) to meet the French Navy’s new requirement for a drone-based mine countermeasures capability. The system was developed in less than six months and has been accepted by the DGA and OCCAr after completing sea trials and delivered to the French Navy. The e-POC demonstrator enables naval forces to conduct mine countermeasures missions quickly and efficiently using only unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs).

Thales’s e-POC demonstrator is an easily transportable solution that will ultimately enable the French Navy to deploy underwater drones for mine countermeasures missions in any theatre of operations. It will provide a flexible mission management capability from outside the zone of operations, helping to keep naval personnel out of harm’s way. The e-POC demonstrator runs software developed for the M-Cube1 and MiMap2 systems on a single computer equipped with three control screens to plan, execute and analyse missions requiring the simultaneous deployment of up to three UUVs. The system can be set up on board a ship or at a shore station, and is small enough to fit into just six transport cases for deployment into the theatre of operations. The transport cases are stowed inside the UUV container to streamline logistics and boost mission effectiveness.

“Thales has combined the power of innovation with the agility of its development teams to augment the defensive capabilities of the French Navy. The e-POC solution is designed for rapid deployment into any theatre of operations, making a valuable contribution to future mine countermeasures missions and helping to guarantee the safety of naval personnel.” Gwendoline Blandin-Roger, Vice-President Underwater Systems, Thales.

1 MCUBE is the Mine Counter-measure Mission Management system

2 Mission analysis tool that enables operators to analyse sonar data in real time or recorded during a mission, with the support of artificial intelligence.

Media Contacts:

Camille Heck
Thales, Media Relations Land & Naval Defence
+33 (0)6 73 78 33 63
camille.heck@thalesgroup.com

Alice Pruvot
Head of Media Relations, Aeronautics & Defense
+33 7 70 27 11 37
alice.pruvot@thalesgroup.com

SOURCE: Thales