Exail Robotics Belgium receives order for underwater mine disposal vehicles

Exail's K-Ster C ROV. (Exail)

The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) has awarded a contract to Exail Robotics Belgium, a subsidiary of French company Exail, for the supply of underwater mine disposal vehicles and training vehicles primarily intended for the Belgian and Netherlands navies.

The scope of the contract, announced by Exail on 27 August and worth around EUR60 million (USD66 million), includes the company's K-Ster C remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), K-Ster CT training vehicles, and associated equipment.

The contract forms part of the Belgian/Netherlands (BE/NL) joint replacement mine countermeasures (rMCM) programme, which is based on mother ships employing a ‘toolbox' of unmanned and autonomous systems drawn from Exail Belgium Robotics' own UMIS offboard MCM suite.

The K-Ster mine disposal systems will be manufactured at Exail's purpose-built MCM factory in Ostend, Belgium. Inaugurated in 2022 the new facility is producing the majority of the unmanned systems for the rMCM programme.

According to Exail, the contract, which involves the delivery of “several hundred” K-Ster C unmanned systems, is the largest in the company's history – and marks the start of industrial-scale production of the systems.

The K-Ster C is a remotely operated lightweight underwater expendable mine-disposal vehicle developed by Exail (formerly ECA Group) in 2008 specifically for mine neutralisation. It is designed to operate from any minehunter and/or any non-dedicated platform in shallow or deep water, at short or long range. The ROV is fitted with a tiltable shaped charge and can neutralise all mine types.

The K-Ster CT training version is equipped with an inert warhead that enables realistic and effective training without the risks associated with live ordnance.