Thales has secured a potential $135 million contract from Defence Equipment and Support, part of the U.K. Ministry of Defence, to design, develop and deliver portable autonomous command centers to support Royal Navy minehunting operations.
The Royal Navy said Monday that the award supports its vision of becoming a hybrid navy by integrating artificial intelligence, autonomous systems and remote command and control into mine countermeasures missions. The initial contract’s initial value is $13.5 million, covering two centers.
How Will the New Command Centers Support UK Mine Countermeasures?
Under the contract, Thales will deliver deployable command centers capable of controlling uncrewed surface and underwater systems from a single operating environment. The systems are designed to improve safety, efficiency and agility by reducing the need for personnel to operate in high-risk areas during minehunting missions.
Thales’ M-Cube Mission Management System will power the command centers. The software suite supports multiple navies globally in planning, executing and assessing both conventional and autonomous mine countermeasures.
The centers will also incorporate the Mi-Map planning and evaluation software, which uses AI-powered automatic target recognition to filter and refine sensor data, accelerating mine detection.
According to reports from Ocean News & Technology and Naval Today, the AI elements of the system are supported by cortAIx, Thales’ internal AI accelerator, which enables defense systems and sensors to integrate AI for operations in complex environments.
Under the contract, Thales will also provide hardware, software, training and technical support, working with a UK-based supply chain.
“This next-generation of autonomous command centers is part of a flexible suite of autonomous C2 from containerized solutions to vessel operations centers or large, shore operations centers,” said Paul Armstrong, managing director for underwater systems activities at Thales UK. “By collaborating across the supply chain, we are committed to supporting the U.K. with world-class technology and fostering growth and high-value skilled jobs across our U.K. operations.”