Company insight
The modern sea mine is a major asset
Naval minelaying is currently proving to be an efficient defensive weapon system in waters around Ukraine. Kristian Tornivaara, chief business officer for defence & aerospace at DA-Group, explains how sea mines have developed over decades to become much more sophisticated, selective and highly effective defensive weapons.
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n the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine the Black Sea is a key zone of influence, as it surrounds the annexed Crimean peninsula and is a vital route for the transport of military assets and supplies. Currently, it is effectively a no-go area due to the reported use of sea mines. “It is apparent that there are mines laid in the Gulf of Odessa and this is keeping the Russian Navy from conducting landing operations,” says Kristian Tornivaara, chief business officer, defence & aerospace at Finnish company DA-Group. “They are denying access to that area using old sea mines and coastal mines, and we know for a fact that Russia is using mines to guide maritime traffic in the Sea of Azov.” “Sea mines are in active use in this crisis and they are effective in controlling ships planning to go to the Sea of Azov, the Black Sea or the Crimean Peninsula,” he adds. “There is no traffic.”
New tools for underwater dominance Many still think of sea mines as huge, spiked balls floating freely or anchored to the seabed by long chains. This may have been accurate back in the 1940s, but the modern influence mine is a very different beast. For example, DA-Group, which provides the latest technology for naval minelaying, has developed a range of sea mines that can differentiate between targets in order to enable commercial vessels to pass safely through a mined area, while keeping out enemy military ships. The company’s TURSO naval mine systems and its SUMICO modular minelaying system provide a safe and effective means of achieving underwater dominance. “Today’s sea mines are more controllable and more predictable,” explains Tornivaara. “They can be programmed not to detonate under a commercial ship, and they have identification, friend or foe (IFF) capability, so a navy can keep its own fleet
A typical SUMICO minelaying module is built on standard TEU footprint to ease mine logistics.
safe. That brings a lot of safety and security and eliminates collateral damage.” There are many safety features incorporated into the technology. The explosive material is immune and safe to store. It must be underwater to detonate. The mines also have stealth features and are not easy to detect. Their behaviour is also programmable. The end user can choose whether a mine detonates or waits until the trajectory of a vessel takes it closer to a different, better placed mine. “The very first sea mines were remotely detonated, not by sensing a target but viewed and triggered from shore,” Tornivaara adds. “Now we are back at the stage of selective detonation but using sophisticated electronics. The warhead is close to what it has been for decades, though the insensitive material has evolved to be on the seabed for a longer time.” “It is a much more versatile system than people think – comparable to missiles or torpedoes but with a lower price tag,” he continues. “You can buy tens or hundreds of mines for the price of one torpedo or missile, and the explosive power is devastating. One mine is enough for any vessel.”
Defence & Security Systems International /
www.defence-and-security.com
Innovation is in Finland’s DNA Unlike many military forces, the Finnish Navy has used naval minelaying as its main weapon system since the Second World War, giving its partners a lead role in innovation.
“Here, we have been developing the technology for many decades,” says Tornivaara. “We can modify and upgrade old mines with our technology to be selective, turning them into modern influence mines. Our offering is market- leading in terms of the electronics and signal processing that we use, enabling them to detect and classify targets. “Now, we are developing the capability for mines to know a target’s direction of travel, and for mines to share information with each other, so a ship entering a mine- denied area is fighting against a whole minefield, not a single mine,” he adds. Such innovations are making mines more intelligent, controllable and effective. They are the reason nothing is moving in the Black Sea, and they will only become more versatile. ●
www.da-group.com 37
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