France, Belgium, Netherlands team up on new mine countermeasures ship
French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu said that France intends to develop a new mine countermeasures ship together with Belgium and the Netherlands, TASS reports
Sebastien Lecornu said, “We’ve signed with the Netherlands and Belgium a partnership agreement in the area of development and construction of mine countermeasures ship for the French Navy.”
According to the minister, this step will upgrade France’s capabilities in the field of mine protection of objects at sea and ‘strengthen the strategic autonomy of Europe’.
It is noted that at the moment France has 17 warships designed for mine protection. These are 10 Tripartite-type minehunters (CMT), 3 sonar towing vessels (BRS), 3 sapper launchers (BBPD) and 1 mine countermeasures experiment vessel (BEGM).
