Hanwha Systems to Develop Next-Generation Mine Clearance Device

Production of 2 Sets of Mine Clearance Devices by August Next Year
Equipped on Mine Countermeasure Vessels and Unmanned Surface Vehicles for Mine Clearance

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] Hanwha Systems has signed a contract for the Defense Acquisition Program Administration's project on the 'Next-Generation Mine Disposal System Based on Autonomous Navigation.' This project involves manufacturing a mine disposal system that approaches mines detected by mine countermeasure vessels or autonomous unmanned underwater vehicles and eliminates them through self-detonation.

According to Hanwha Systems on the 30th, they plan to produce two sets of mine disposal systems by August 2023, consisting of training mine disposal systems, operational mine disposal systems, operation consoles, positioning systems, and recovery systems. The mine disposal systems will be designed to be mounted on various platforms such as mine countermeasure vessels, unmanned surface vehicles (USV) for mine clearance, and mine countermeasure helicopters.

In the future, it is expected to be developed in the form of an autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle (AUV) that automatically guides itself to the target location and removes mines, becoming a core piece of equipment for combined manned-unmanned mine clearance operations, which is one of the key initiatives of 'Defense Innovation 4.0.'

Kim Jeong-ho, Head of the Command and Control Business Division at Hanwha Systems, said, "Through this project, we expect to advance core technologies for underwater marine unmanned systems and secure technological superiority."

Meanwhile, Hanwha Systems participated in a consortium led by the Korea Research Institute of Ships and Ocean Engineering (KRISO) and was selected as the preferred negotiator for the 'Development of Autonomous Underwater Walking Robot Technology for Mine Search' project on the 19th of last month.

The 'Autonomous Underwater Walking Robot for Mine Search' is a robot that sinks to the seabed with strong currents where humans cannot enter, detecting and identifying buried mines. In this project, Hanwha Systems is responsible for developing 'Underwater Environment Recognition Technology for Underwater Walking Robots,' which uses equipment mounted on the underwater walking robot to recognize underwater environments such as seabed topography, obstacles, targets, and the robot's own position.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.