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Brits Receive First Autonomous Anti-Mine Vessel

Tuesday, March 18th, 2025

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Brits Receive First Autonomous Anti-Mine Vessel

Thales’s first autonomous UK mine hunting vessel, the Ariadne, as part of a new unmanned system to detect and eliminate seabed mines, was delivered to the Royal Navy in March 2025. (Photo: Thales)

The U.K. Ministry of Defense last week announced it received its first new end-to-end autonomous mine hunting vessel, the unmanned surface vessel (USV) RNMB Ariadne. In a March 14 announcement, the government said this vessel was designed and built in the U.K. under a $239 million contract with Thales U.K. The Ariadne is about 39 feet long and can be deployed from a harbor or mother ship to hunt and destroy mines on the seabed using the towed Thales TSAM…

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