French DGA Launches Production of Mine Countermeasures Boats

The French Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) said Thursday it launched the production of diving support boats (VSP).

The eight VSPs will be used primarily for mine countermeasures in the shallow seabed. Production of the boats started on March 2.

The arrival of VSPs in the French Navy completes the renewal of naval capabilities in the fight against mines and improvised explosive devices, as provided for by the 2019-2025 military programming law.

The operational evaluation carried out by the French Navy on the VSP Ophrys, received by the DGA in November 2022, is in progress. It will continue until the end of March 2023, but is already giving rise to results deemed satisfactory: confirmation of the VSP's good maneuvering and navigation qualities, verification of its autonomy and endurance, implementation of the hyperbaric recompression chamber. It has thus demonstrated to the groups of clearance divers and to the diving school that they will be able to conduct their underwater operations in safety. They will be used by the Saint-Mandrier diving school (Var) and the three groups of clearance divers, stationed in Toulon, Brest and Cherbourg.

These new boats will replace nine old ones admitted to active service in the 1990s. They will participate in the mine warfare function in addition to the base buildings for clearance divers and tripartite mine hunters, two other components whose renewal is the subject of the “Future Marine Anti-mine Fighting System” (SLAMF) program.

The main missions of the VSPs will concern research and interventions up to 60m deep with a team of sixteen divers, research by towed sonar up to 100m deep, support for underwater work sites or expertise and interventions under the hulls of boats. Thanks to their reduced size and draft, the VSPs can be deployed in areas of shallow water not accessible to larger means.

The delivery of the second VSP is scheduled for the third quarter of 2024 and the deliveries of the following VSPs will be staggered every three months until the second quarter of 2026. The arrival of the VSPs in the French Navy completes the renewal of the naval capacities of fight against mines and improvised explosive devices.