Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has concluded a research and prototype production contract with Japan’s Ministry of Defense for next-generation mine-countermeasure technology.
This is a France-Japan joint research project being conducted based on agreement between defense authorities in the two countries
The research and prototype manufacturing project aims to combine the low frequency synthetic aperture sonarnmounted in MHI’s OZZ-5 autonomous underwater mine countermeasure vehicle with the high frequency synthetic aperture sonar from France’s Thales Group.
The aims is to enhance the precision of the automatic detection and classification function, and together with signal processing technology development, achieve synthetic aperture signal processing in real time.
This joint research project is being conducted based on a France-Japan strategic roadmap to “continue cooperation including producing a prototype using sophisticated mine detection technology and conducting sea trials.”
Testing will take place in Japan through 2024, followed by trials in France.
MHI will also participate in international cooperation in the rescue, transport, patrol, surveillance, and mine countermeasure sectors.