London | Defence & Maritime Security : The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has awarded Thales a contract valued at up to GBP 100 million to design, develop, and deliver portable, remote command centres (RCCs) that will underpin a major transformation of the Royal Navy’s mine-hunting and wider seabed warfare capabilities.
Issued through the MoD’s procurement arm, Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), the three-and-a-half-year programme, with options for extension, will see Thales deliver up to eight containerised RCC units. The contract covers the full scope of hardware, software, operator training, and technical support, enabling the Royal Navy to integrate and operate an expanding fleet of autonomous and remotely operated systems from a single, unified command architecture.
Design Phase to Complete by 2026
Within the overall programme, an initial GBP 10 million phase has been approved to complete the detailed design of the RCCs by late 2026 and to establish the programme’s core management and integration framework. This phase is intended to de-risk delivery while aligning the new command centres with existing and future Mine Hunting Capability (MHC) platforms.
According to Thales, the RCCs will consolidate previously separate and independently controlled mine countermeasures systems into one integrated command-and-control (C2) environment, allowing operators to manage crewed and uncrewed platforms simultaneously.
AI at the Core of Mine Countermeasures
At the heart of the RCC concept is Thales’ M-Cube mission management system, combined with the Mi-Map data environment and cortAIx artificial intelligence applications. Together, these technologies form a digital backbone designed to accelerate decision-making and improve situational awareness across mine-hunting operations.
M-Cube, already in service with several navies worldwide, provides mission planning, execution, and post-mission evaluation for both conventional and autonomous mine countermeasures. It delivers maritime situational awareness (MSA) from task-force level down to individual units. Mi-Map aggregates raw sensor data into a structured database, while cortAIx AI processes that data to generate faster, more accurate insights—supporting tasks such as automatic target recognition and threat classification.
Containerised, Deployable at Sea or Ashore
The RCCs are designed as containerised, modular units that can be deployed onboard ships or at shore-based facilities. This approach allows the Royal Navy to rapidly reposition command centres depending on operational requirements, from expeditionary mine clearance to the protection of ports, harbours, and critical seabed infrastructure.
Once deployed, the RCCs will function as hub-style command centres, coordinating a multi-domain mix of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), surface systems, sensors, and effectors supplied by multiple vendors. The architecture is deliberately open and modular, enabling rapid integration of both legacy platforms and future autonomous systems.
Supporting the Royal Navy’s ‘Hybrid Navy’ Vision
The contract aligns closely with the MoD’s June 2025 Strategic Defence Review, which highlighted autonomous systems as central to transforming the Royal Navy into a “hybrid navy”—one that blends crewed platforms with large numbers of uncrewed assets.
Autonomous mine countermeasures and seabed warfare capabilities are increasingly seen as critical to deterring threats to freedom of navigation, particularly in contested waters across NATO’s area of operations. These missions include securing maritime choke points, littoral zones, ports, harbours, and strategic sea lines of communication, as well as safeguarding critical seabed infrastructure such as data and energy cables.
By increasing the use of uncrewed systems, the Royal Navy aims to generate greater sensing mass, improve persistence, and deliver faster and more adaptable operational responses while reducing risk to personnel.
Built for Growth and Rapid Upgrades
Thales emphasised that the RCCs’ software-driven architecture supports the MoD’s rapid capability adoption and spiral acquisition model. This allows the system to evolve through incremental upgrades based on operator feedback, emerging threats, and advances in autonomy and AI.
The flexible internal configuration of each container enables commanders to tailor the RCCs for specific missions, while the underlying digital framework ensures interoperability with allied systems and NATO partners.
Transition from Legacy to Autonomous Operations
During the early stages of deployment, the Royal Navy’s existing mine countermeasures vessels (MCMVs) will continue to operate alongside autonomous systems. This parallel approach is intended to preserve operational readiness while allowing the service to capture lessons learned and refine doctrine as it transitions toward a more autonomous force structure.
Defence officials see the RCC programme as a foundational step in reshaping how the Royal Navy conducts mine warfare and seabed security—moving from platform-centric operations to a “system-of-systems” model, with the RCCs acting as the digital nerve centres of future maritime operations.
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