Work Starts On New Belgian Navy Mine Hunter

Construction work on a new mine countermeasures (MCM) vessel for the Belgian Navy, the future BNS Liège, has started in Romania’s Giurgiu Shipyard.

The MCM ship is being delivered by Naval Group; the vessel’s basic structure will be assembled at the Romanian shipyard before being towed to Concarneau, France, where the defence contractor will finalise the works.

Construction of the BNS Liège is being carried out as part of the wider rMCM programme, a bilateral project which will see 12 vessels built and divided equally between the Belgian Navy and the Dutch Navy. Each ship has an estimated cost of about €165 million.

The rMCM programme was awarded in 2019 to Belgium Naval & Robotics, a joint venture between Naval Group and Exail. As part of the project roughly 100 surface, underwater, and aerial drones will be built to equip each ship.

The first vessel produced under the rMCM programme, BNS Oostende, was launched in March 2023 and has been undergoing sea trials ahead of commissioning into the Belgian Navy, now planned for summer 2025. The second ship, HNLMS Vlissingen, was launched in October 2023, and BNS Tournai in June 2024.

The BNS Liège is due to be commissioned at the end of 2027; the aim is to have all 12 ships in the class delivered to the two navies by the middle of 2030.

The French Navy is also set to use the same model as the basis for its future MCM vessels; it plans to build six “mothership” MCM boats as part of its système de lutte anti-mines futur (SLAM-F) MCM programme, which will also feature a series of unmanned systems and base ships for mine clearance divers.

• You can read more details about the future BNS Liège on the Belgian Navy website