Electro-Optical Surveillance Systems Selected for Mine Counter-Measures Vessels

Chess Dynamics has been awarded a contract by French shipbuilders KERSHIP to supply electro-optical surveillance systems for 12 new Mine Counter Measures Vessels (MCMV) that are being built for the Belgian and Royal Netherlands Navies. The Sea Eagle FCEO (Fire Control Electro Optical) systems will provide an all-weather, 24-hour surveillance, tracking and target data solution that will be interfaced with the ships’ combat management and gun fire control systems.

The MCMV vessels are 2800-ton militarized ships specially designed for mine warfare that will deploy a suite of autonomous mine countermeasures drones. The MCMV procurement programme is well into its development and has so far achieved its ‘Systems Functional Review’ (SFR) milestone.

Two FCEO systems will be provided for each ship, and will be fully integrated with other sensors on the vessels through the combat management system. They will supply tracking and targeting data with merged stabilised TV and infra-red images to enable enhanced visual surveillance for a range of different missions. The FCEO provides a stabilised integrated electro-optical and tracking system that consists of a high-power thermal imaging camera, HD TV camera and an eye-safe laser range finder. This in turn delivers 360˚ azimuth coverage, facilitating continuous electro optical verification of contacts.

Dave Eldridge, Chess Dynamics Sales Director, commented: “The news of this contract award has been greatly received by all at Chess Dynamics. The business is committed to delivering surveillance and gun fire control system solutions which are ideally suited to harsh maritime environments and enable our customers to meet the multiple operational requirements within naval, coastal and border environments.”

“These systems will be delivered from our Naval Centre of Excellence in Plymouth. Significant investment has been made to retain and recruit the necessary expertise to develop and evolve our Sea Eagle family of systems, incorporating industry-leading technology and designs. This contract award of our Sea Eagle equipment is a testament to our continual development and commitment to working in partnership with our customers.”