Naval forces from the United Kingdom, France, and the United States participated in the biennial mine warfare exercise, Artemis Trident, to enhance their minehunting capabilities in the Gulf.
The exercise aimed to improve the coordination and expertise of these forces, combining state-of-the-art and traditional minehunting methods.
The British and American forces maintain a consistent mine warfare presence in the Gulf, deploying minehunters, dive teams, and autonomous systems, while the French Navy regularly sends forces to the region.
A specialist dive team was dispatched for the two-week exercise, following the recently conducted large-scale naval exercise in the Middle East, IMX23.
The multinational task group consisted of the UK support ship RFA Cardigan Bay and the American minehunter USS Devastator.
The French Navy contributed mine clearance divers and their robotic submersible, Allister 9, which scans the seabed for suspicious objects, similar to the REMUS system used by the UK and US.
The Royal Navy utilised the exercise to test Harrier, a high-tech autonomous boat representing the future of the UK’s minehunting capability. In the next decade, Harrier and similar or successor systems are expected to replace traditional ships with robot mother vessels that launch drones into minefields.
This transition aims to accelerate the search process and reduce risks to human life, say the Royal Navy.
Interesting, did not realize the Hunts/Sandowns are apparently no longer participating in exercises. Would have assumed it would have been a hybrid trial, including both legacy and future systems. 🤔
There are loads of exercises throughout the year. All 3 UK MCMVs participate at various times as do the USN 4 x MCMVs.
This exercise was just testing remote systems. Harrier was embarked on CBs deck along with the control and maintenance systems inside containers. Harrier went in and out of the water via the deck crane.
Understood. Thanks for providing additional context.
Sending a message.