The French Navy recently took delivery of a new unmanned surface vehicle (USV) designed for mine countermeasures (MCM) missions.
Rigel was developed by a collaboration between the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation, the French Ministry of Armed Forces, the UK Ministry of Defence, and defence technology company the Thales Group.
Artemis, an earlier MCM USV from the same class, was handed over to the French Navy in late 2021.
The USV will form part of a complete system that also includes a towed synthetic aperture sonar, a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), and two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
In an operational setting, two USVs will be deployed in tandem with one craft fitted with the towed sonar and the other carrying the ROV and the UAVs. The smaller unmanned vehicles will be equipped with their own mine detection sensors.
The USV can be remotely controlled from shore or another vessel, though it can be programmed to sail through pre-determined waypoints. Operations are possible even under conditions of Sea State four.