Exail has announced the delivery in Zeebrugge of its first mine countermeasures (MCM) toolbox. The delivery was completed by Belgium Naval & Robotics, the consortium formed by Naval Group and Exail, but Exail is responsible for both design and production.
The formal handover of this suite of equipment enables the system integration and commissioning phase for the M940 OOSTENDE vessel, the first ship of the joint Belgian-Dutch MCM program. The ship herself was handed over to the Belgian Navy in November 2025.
The toolbox includes the full suite of surface, underwater and aerial unmanned systems, together with the associated mission management solutions. Of these, all but the aerial vehicles are produced by Exail in its facility in Ostend.
The toolbox comprises 2 uncrewed surface vehicles of the INSPECTOR 125 type; 3 autonomous underwater vehicles of the A-18 type, equipped with UMISAS 120 sonar; 2 towed sonar vehicles T-18 fitted with the UMISAS 240 type sonar (delivery planned in the second quarter of this year); 2 mine identification and destruction systems, each composed by SEASCAN remotely operated vehicles for mine identification and K-STER C expendable disposal drones and a Umisoft system for command and control.
The suite will later be completed with an influence dredger, also by Exail, which will incorporate 5 CTM magnetic modules and 1 acoustic module supplied by Patria. The combined effect of magnetic and acoustic signature from this unit is meant to cause the detonation of enemy “smart” mines. As mentioned earlier, the suite also includes aerial drones which are however a Saab product: specifically, a pair of Skeldar V200 rotorcraft.
The INSPECTOR 125 USVs are the true earth of the toolbox as they are used to deploy sensors and disposal systems into the minefield. Their modular cargo area can be fitted with the towed T-18 sonar vehicle launch and recovery system for the search phase; with the launch and recovery assembly for the A-18 AUVs and finally, for the disposal phase, with the double launch and recovery assembly for the SEASCAN ROVs (2 of which can be deployed from the stern) and up to 4 K-STER C expendable disposal drones, deployed over the sides of the boat. The INSPECTOR 125 will also be used to tow the combined influence dredger when it arrives.
The INSPECTOR 125 is approximately 12,5 meters long and 4,2 in maximum beam. It can operate autonomously at a stand-off distance of up to 18 nautical miles from the mothership, a range that can be extended using the SKELDAR V-200 UAVs for communication relay.
The Belgian and Dutch navies joint MCM program will replace the TRIPARTITE-class MCM ships dating back to the 80s. Under this program, the 2 navies are procuring 12 new motherships, 10 Toolboxes and an initial 10-years support package, equally split between the two.
The building of the new motherships is ongoing, with some delays. Both Belgium and Netherlands have received the first of their respective 6 ships, the OOSTENDE (November 2025) for Belgium and the VLISSINGERN for the Netherlands (early March 2026). The 3rd vessel, the TOURNAI (second for Belgium) should be delivered soon.
Deliveries are expected to wrap up by 2030. Each mothership has a length of 82.6m overall and maximum width of 17m for a displacement of 2800 tons. Maximum speed is 15.3 knots with a range of over 3500 nautical miles. The ship accommodates a crew of up to 63, with USV delivery over the sides through gantry cranes with special cradles that are lowered into the water. The ships have a BAE-Bofors Mk4 40 mm gun as main armament.
France partially “joined” the project with a Memorandum of Understanding signed in July 2023. The intent is to build a variant of the same mothership for the needs of her own Système de lutte antimines futur (SLAMF) program.
It must be noted that the drones embarked by France will be different as they will come from the joint project MMCM with the UK: the USV, in particular, is the L3 ASV 11-meters one while the towed sonar is the Thales T-SAM and the disposal solution is via Saab Multi-Shot Mine Neutralisation System ROV.
In February 2025, a further letter was jointly signed confirming the sub-licensing of the ship design to France. The French vessels to come are expected to be slightly longer, with some differences in the USV launch and recovery system and with the Thales RAPIDFIRE 40 mm weapon replacing the BAE- Bofors 40 Mk4 found on Dutch and Belgian vessels.
It is also worth mentioning that back in 2021, the Royal Netherlands Navy decided to set up a complementary toolbox to enable an Operational Test and Evaluation phase to begin before the new ships and Toolboxes would begin to enter service. This OT&E comprises several of the same systems as the final Toolbox, namely SEASCAN and K-STER C plus A-18 AUV, but uses a smaller uncrewed surface vehicle, the USV 90 (9 meters long). This enabled the Netherlands to begin experimentation and training in 2024, also deploying the USV 90 to Portugal to take part in the NATO REPMUS 24 exercise-demonstration.
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