Calling All Mini-Bots! Indian Navy Tests Tiny Underwater Drones to Tackle Mine Shortage

Imagine this: the mighty Indian Navy, patrolling our vast coastline, needs a helping hand. But not just any kind of help – they need it for a tricky task, clearing those hidden dangers lurking underwater – mines! The thing is, the Navy doesn't have enough of the usual ships that sweep for mines. But instead of waiting around, they're getting all tech-savvy with a brand new solution – super tiny underwater drones called Micro AUVs!

Developed by our very own Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), these Micro AUVs are like little remote-controlled submarines, but way cooler. They're small enough to fit in tight spaces that bigger ships can't reach, and they can stay underwater for a good 7-9 hours, hunting for mines like underwater bloodhounds!

Here's the exciting part: the Navy is currently testing these AUVs by launching them straight from their warships. This means they can deploy these mini-bots anywhere, anytime, without needing a whole separate ship for minesweeping. Pretty nifty, right?

And it gets even better! They've even modified a ship, the INS Makar, specifically to work with these AUVs. They've decked it out with all sorts of fancy equipment, including a whole bunch of these little drones, basically turning it into a one-stop shop for mine clearance!

So, what's the big deal about these Micro AUVs? Well, for one, they keep our Navy personnel safe. These are unmanned robots, so no one has to risk their lives going near those pesky mines. Plus, they're likely to be much cheaper to build, operate, and maintain than those big ships. The best part? The Navy can deploy a whole swarm of these little guys at once, covering a much larger area much faster than a single ship ever could!

These tiny underwater drones are a game-changer for the Indian Navy. They're a perfect example of how innovation can help keep our seas safe and secure.

 

[PARTHAJIT JANA]

Maybe buy some minesweepers with tot instead of finding other routes.

 

[Anant]

Maybe buy some minesweepers with tot instead of finding other routes.

Both would be needed. We would need dedicated MCMVs, but even these drones would be needed if and when we have individual or a small group of ships deploying. We can't attach a MCMV to every single ship group.

That said, the present RfI is tailored for the Franco-Dutch-Belgian City-class MCMVs. While that thing materialise, we could buy 6-8 second-hand MCMVs on the cheap, since with a refit, they could have another 10-15 years left in them.

 

[GMR]

Really love & respect the attitude of IN 👍👍

 

[Sandeep]

India does need about 12 dedicated minesweepers even though launching mines has become a very outdated form of warfare as they are very unreliable or inaccurate but they are very expensive. It would be much better if India designs and develops our own indigenous minesweeper which would be cheaper and more affordable. At the same time developing a AUV to detect and disable mines is a very important and key technological drone as they can be used by any ships where a minesweeper might take too long to reach that point. Having this AUV will allow our major ships to travel through a safer route and it doesn't cost a lot of money so this is a key and essential system to have on all our ships.

 

[Anant]

India does need about 12 dedicated minesweepers even though launching mines has become a very outdated form of warfare as they are very unreliable or inaccurate but they are very expensive. It would be much better if India designs and develops our own indigenous minesweeper which would be cheaper and more affordable. At the same time developing a AUV to detect and disable mines is a very important and key technological drone as they can be used by any ships where a minesweeper might take too long to reach that point. Having this AUV will allow our major ships to travel through a safer route and it doesn't cost a lot of money so this is a key and essential system to have on all our ships.

Mine warfare is still very much relevant. Mining an enemy's port approaches in a war is still a decent way of causing losses. Moreover, mines are still deadly for merchant shipping, since such ships don't generally have anti-mine equipment onboatd, and not every convoy would have MCMV support.

That said, our Navy does need 12-16 MCMVs. While an indigenous design would be the best scenario, the problem is that we don't have one, and starting now would take a very long time. The Navy has nit had MCMVs since 2019, and in a few years, we may well start to lose the competency. As of now, we rely on helicopters and a few Thales manufactured MCM clips which are used on warships, but these are grossly insufficient.

If we were to start work on a class of MCMVs today, the best case scenario for the first ship entering service would be in the mid to late 2030s, since we would also have to develop a lot of subsystems for such a ship. Depending on how that goes, it could go wrong as well.

One option here would be to, say, reduce the planned procurement for which the RfI was released last year from 12 to 10, converting the 2 additional ships to options. Then, we could start work for a class of 6 indigenous MCMVs (for an eventual total of 16). In the meantime, we could look into the purchase of 6-8 second-hand MCMVs. There are a lot of nations retiring old MCMVs these days (Tripartite-class MCMVs in the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, Lerici-class MCMVs in Italy, etc.), and these old ships could serve for another 10-15 years with a refit or two. That would allow us to bridge the gap, maintain the capability, and have an indigenous MCMV mothership as well.

Oh, and we are already working on MCM AUVs. The idea is that these MCMVs will be 2,500-ish ton MCM motherships that can act as independent MCMVs and will also host a lot of these MCM AUVs.