The demonstration builds on the companies’ 2025 integration and field exercise of Thales’ SAMDIS 600 sonar aboard HII’s REMUS 620 unmanned underwater vehicle. The latest work added mission management, AI-assisted data analysis and the ANGLER mine-neutralization capability from Thales subsidiary Advanced Acoustic Concepts.
“This demonstration advances our work with Thales from sensor integration to a complete mine countermeasure mission capability,” said Duane Fotheringham, president of HII’s Unmanned Systems group. “Together, we are giving naval forces a path to conduct these demanding missions faster, at greater scale and with sailors farther from the mine threat.”
During the search, REMUS 620 used the SAMDIS 600 multi-aspect synthetic aperture sonar to detect potential mines autonomously. Operators then used Thales’ software, combining high-resolution sonar imagery with AI-enabled automatic target recognition, to classify and locate mine-like objects.
ANGLER reacquired the objects and provided visual identification of the threat, supplying the means to engage and neutralize it. The demonstration also included automated launch and recovery of the sonar-equipped REMUS vehicle using HII’s Sea Launcher system.
Thales’ Expeditionary Portable Operation Center served as the operational hub, hosting mission-management and sonar-analysis software and integrating HII’s Odyssey solution. It gave operators a unified picture and consistent command and control across the mission.
“This demonstration alongside HII, a leading American partner, illustrates Thales’ ability to work with the best international players to address the critical challenges of mine warfare,” said Sébastien Guérémy, vice president of Underwater Systems at Thales. “Thales’ mine countermeasures solutions, such as Expeditionary PathMaster, has again proven that it can integrate autonomous platforms, advanced sensors, mission management and neutralization systems into a single AI-powered operational framework.”
The companies said PathMaster’s open architecture allowed the equipment to work within a common, NATO-compliant mission environment. That approach is intended to let allied navies combine platforms, sensors and effectors from different suppliers while retaining coordinated control of the operation.
