From 1-11 June, the Danish Navy’s Mine Clearance Unit MCM Denmark has used the Danish Emergency Management Agency’s ship Poul Løwenørn as a platform for training mine clearance operations.
MCM Denmark has had a container-based control module located on the deck of Poul Løwenørn, which has served as the mother platform for a remote-controlled mine clearance drone.
The remote-controlled drone, which is approximately 30 meters long and seven meters wide, has a towing sonar mounted for scanning the seabed. Both the drone and the sonar can be remotely controlled from the container module on board Poul Løwenørn. This means that the drone can sail unmanned in a potential minefield, thereby keeping personnel and ships out of the minefield.
Cooperation is necessary in a time of rearmament
In addition to training mine clearance operations, the collaboration with the Danish Emergency Management Agency and Poul Løwenørn has also made it possible for the unmanned drone with sonar to be able to collect data and contribute to the monitoring of underwater infrastructure, e.g. cables and pipes on the seabed.
The Chief of the Naval Command, Rear Admiral Søren Kjeldsen, believes that the Armed Forces’ cooperation with other authorities, such as the Danish Emergency Management Agency, which makes a ship available for training, is important and necessary in a time of rearmament and increased focus on defense.
“Unmanned systems are becoming an increasingly important part of the naval and maritime operations of the future, and therefore it is crucial that we build up experience in using them under realistic conditions. The collaboration with the Danish Emergency Management Agency has given MCM Denmark a unique opportunity to develop our procedures over a longer period of time at sea. At the same time, we have been able to use the systems’ sensors to obtain valuable data from the marine environment. It is a good example of how cooperation across authorities can strengthen the Armed Forces’ overall operational development,” says Søren Kjeldsen.
Safety at sea is a high priority
Poul Løwenørn’s support has meant that MCM Denmark has been able to train sailing with the drone unmanned around the clock over several days. The drone has sailed unmanned in the Great Belt, rounded Skagen’s headland twice and through the Sound, where it has solved tasks along the way with scanning the seabed. All this has been checked on board Poul Løwenørn in a strong collaboration between the two crews.
The director of the Danish Emergency Management Agency, Kenneth Pedersen, also believes that cooperation is one of the ways forward towards a stronger defense.
“For the Danish Emergency Management Agency, safety at sea is always a high priority. At the same time, it is an area where we have a close collaboration with the Armed Forces, including in the areas of rescue and search (SAR), marine environmental preparedness and maritime safety tasks. Therefore, I am also pleased with our close cooperation with the Naval Command, where we can mutually support each other with equipment, capabilities and experience, whether it is for tests, exercises or during the operational efforts. The operational collaboration is strengthened when we can draw on each other’s skills, and Poul Løwenørn’s participation in MCM Denmark’s training has been a good example of this,” says Kenneth Pedersen.