Mine Countermeasures

HII and Thales demonstrated Thales’ Expeditionary Pathmaster architecture integrated with HII’s REMUS 620 unmanned underwater vehicle on November 3, 2026. The demonstration offers market intelligence on modular, interoperable mine-countermeasure capabilities, but no government customer, solicitation, award, funding, or follow-on procurement was identified.

France is combining a Naval Group combat-underwater-vehicle demonstrator with planned purchases of deep-sea, mine-countermeasure, surface, and underwater drones. The effort creates potential openings in subsea autonomy, sensing, mine detection, and integration, but announced purchases do not include solicitation details, and the proposed 2027 defense budget remains subject to parliamentary debate.

The U.S. Navy awarded Advanced Acoustic Concepts (AAC), a Thales subsidiary, $53.9 million for two integrated Remote Mine Hunting modules and engineering support. Options could bring the cumulative value to approximately $196.2 million, creating potential follow-on demand while leaving additional work, delivery dates, and solicitation details unconfirmed.

The Army’s October 27 NSTXL Request for Solutions seeks concepts to reduce the size, weight, and power of a 30-kW-class high-energy laser for the Infantry Squad Vehicle-Utility, informing an acquisition decision targeted for FY2031. The roundup also reports $41.6 million in Navy awards to AEVEX for mine-countermeasure unmanned surface vessels and a nearly $500 million Army modification to Boeing for Apache engineering and technical support.