Royal Navy tests remote-controlled minehunter

16 Apr 2014 03:59 PM

A remote-controlled boat that can search for, hunt and destroy mines is being tested by a specialist Royal Navy unit. 

The motorboat, called Hazard, is currently being put through its paces by a specialist team of sailors in Portsmouth naval base. The boat can also act as the ‘mother ship’ to an assortment of hi-tech remote-controlled and robot submersibles.

Collectively, they can search for, hunt and finally destroy mines faster than the Royal Navy’s Sandown and Hunt-class ships, and they also have the added benefit of keeping the sailors required to operate them out of harm’s way.

Modified versions of the same systems are also being looked at to carry out survey operations such as those performed by HMS Echo, currently looking for the missing Malaysian airliner, as part of the future mine-countermeasures and hydrographic capability programme.

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