New tasks for the minehunter ORP Mewa

The third in a series of modern mine countermeasure vessels, ORP Mewa, built at Remontowa Shipbuilding S.A. and handed over to the Polish Navy in December last year, will carry out new tasks. This involves the maritime protection of critical infrastructure using a modified Norwegian submarine drone.

A tender for selecting a contractor for this service, which consists of extending the capabilities of the AUV Hugin autonomous underwater vehicle already on ORP Mewa’s equipment with ‘Pipe tracking’ functionality, was announced on 26 October this year, by the Naval Port Command in Gdynia.

– The software must provide the ability to automatically detect and track a pipeline or other transmission cable in real time and enable the vehicle’s onboard navigation to be controlled in such a way that it maintains a commanded position in relation to the pipeline/cable throughout the mission, reports industry portal zbiam.pl.

The Hugin system is currently used by several fleets worldwide, including the Royal Norwegian Navy and the navies of Finland and Italy, in addition to numerous commercial applications, mainly in scientific research institutions and offshore companies.

On 2 November, a list of bids from companies interested in performing this service was published. There is only one company on the list: Escort Sp—z o.o. from Szczecin, an authorised distributor of products from the Norwegian company Kongsberg Maritime. The offer amounts to almost PLN 694 million. The ordering party provided nearly PLN 631 million for the realisation of this order. Evaluation of the submitted offer is in progress.

ORP Mewa is the third modern minehunter delivered to the 13th minesweeper division of the 8th Coastal Defence Flotilla in Gdynia. The ship was handed over to the Navy in December 2022. The handover of the vessel was preceded by several months of commissioning and sea acceptance tests, during which the sea platform and mine countermeasures equipment and systems were checked. Their successful completion confirmed the vessel’s ability to perform her main tasks, which include searching, classifying, identifying and combating sea mines, reconnaissance of waterways, guiding vessels through mine threat areas, laying mines and remote control of self-propelled mine countermeasure platforms.

The ship was built by a consortium led by Remontowa Shipbuilding S.A. The consortium also included OBR CTM S.A. and PGZ Naval Shipyard in Gdynia.

Source: PortalMorski.pl