The Canadian Department of National Defense has contracted Kraken Robotics to deliver minehunting drones in support of the Royal Canadian Navy Minehunting Program.
Under the agreement, the company will provide its Remote Minehunting and Disposal System (RMDS) to navy detachments in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Esquimalt, British Columbia.
The procurement will take place over a one-year acquisition period beginning in January followed by five years of integrated logistics support. It will amount to more than $50 million if all options are exercised.
‘Field-Proven Capabilities’
According to Kraken, the underwater drones will help the Canadian Armed Forces support anti-warfare missions with allies and in United Nations peace operations.
The drones will also be utilized to ensure the security of Royal Canadian Navy warships and the country’s commercial ships navigating in international waterways, minimizing the exposure of Canadian personnel to subsurface explosives.
“For Kraken, this program is building upon the success we have had supplying underwater sensors, platforms, and services to a number of NATO navies including the US, UK, Australia, Denmark, Poland, and others,” Kraken President and CEO Karl Kenny stated.
“Kraken has deployed our SAS solutions on the family of HII AUVs across several countries, so we are looking forward to bringing that field-proven capability to the Royal Canadian Navy.”
Kraken’s RMDS Drone
The RMDS drones comprise training and combat-variant mine disposal systems.
The underwater vehicle is controlled via a computer-based trainer and transportable command center.
The RMDS comes in lightweight and operator-portable classes. Both variants are equipped with Kraken’s AquaPix synthetic aperture sonar.