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2018-12-02

Maritime Innovation At Euronaval

This year’s 50th anniversary edition of EURONAVAL has once again confirmed its status as one of the world’s leading naval exhibitions. With a special visit by President Macron of the French Republic and the presence of more than 140 official delegations, EURONAVAL 2018 pointed strongly towards the future, particularly with its new SEAnnovation space dedicated to start-ups.

Politicians and Delegations

A French President returned for the first time since EURONAVAL’s creation in 1968. The current President of France Emmanuel Macron visited Euronaval accompanied by Florence Parly, Minister of the Armed Forces, and Geneviève Darieussecq, Secretary of State to meet industry leaders, key state defence and naval actors, as well as SMEs and start-ups.

Madame Parly inaugurated the exhibition with an extremely positive speech announcing the launch of the studies for the future aircraft carrier, welcoming the Minister of Education and Youth Jean-Michel Blanquer, who inaugurated the Trade Vessel for the French industry in the presence of Hervé Guillou, President of the GICAN and CEO of Naval Group, Geoffroy Roux de Bezieux, President of MEDEF and Philippe Darmayan, President of UIMM. The exhibition also welcomed Jean-Jacques Bridey, Chairman of the Defence Committee at the National Assembly and Christian Cambon, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Armed Forces in the Senate, as well as a number of French deputies and senators including Jean-Marie Bockel.

EURONAVAL’s official delegations included 101 foreign delegations representing 72 countries, who benefitted from tailor-made tour programmes demonstrating the naval materials with potential to equip their countries’ navies. This year’s Paris exhibition also included 60 representatives of overseas organisations, while an international conference taking place the day before boasted an audience of 600 people.

Recruitment and Innovation

EURONAVAL 2018 saw the Trade Vessel initiative aim for recruitment of young people to the French naval industry. Inaugurated by the Minister of Education and Youth, France’s GICAN has collaborated with the Naval Industries Campus (CINAV) to emphasise innovation and creativity in their presentation of naval job sectors with recruitment difficulties to the 300+ students invited to the exhibition.

Further emphasis on naval sector diversity was provided in the SEAnnovation space which hosted 34 French and foreign start-up businesses. EURONAVAL 2018 gave them an unique opportunity to present their work to shipbuilding industry contractors from across the world.

2018 Exhibitor Highlights

Nation Shield has covered the most prominent of the 480 exhibitors’ latest technology at EURONAVAL 2018:

Vulcano Precision-Guided Munitions

BAE Systems and Leonardo have come together to offer a low-risk, more affordable and higher performing precision-guided solution in the form of the Vulcano precision-guided munitions and the new fully Automated Handling System for the Mk 45 naval gun system.

Compatible with the majority of land and naval platforms, including 155mm and 5-inch (127mm) gun systems to defeat land and sea threats, and with mechanical interfaces identical to standard ammunition, the Vulcano family offers significantly greater range and precision thanks to a fin-stabilised airframe with canard control for extended range and terminal guidance.

As the original manufacturer, BAE Systems considers themselves best placed to integrate Vulcano into its major gun systems, while the latest adaptations of Vulcano are compatible with most in-service artillery systems including Leonardo’s 127/64 LW and 127/54C naval guns.

Indo-Russian Frigate

The first frigate of Russian project 11356 licenced by India and built by Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) will be handed over to the Indian Navy in 2023. Indian government plans to procure four frigates of project 11356.

Two will be built by Yantar shipyard and two by GSL, each designed to strike at surface warships and submarines in blue and green waters, while fighting air targets solo and within groups.

iXblue Compact Series

iXblue’s Phins Compact Series is now recognised as a world leader for autonomous navigation and in offering a flexible turnkey solution for Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) that continue to evolve as a growing, dynamic solution in the defence sector and a wide range of military applications.

iXblue has developed a complete range of subsea INS specifically designed to improve accuracy and bring reliable cost-efficient navigation solutions to all UUVs, giving them the ability to operate in difficult-to-access as well as hazardous areas where navigation is challenging. UUVs offer a flexible, cost-efficient and safer alternative for various applications, including Rapid Environmental Assessment (REA), mine countermeasures, border surveillance and security, monitoring of smuggling of illegal products and antisubmarine warfare.

“UUVs are some of the most, if not the most advanced autonomous platforms in the world and the only ones that are always forced to operate in a GNSS-denied environment. This is why the navigation solution is such an essential component and because it brings such a critical capability, we understand the importance of our position in the market,” explained Robert O’Malley, Business Development Manager at iXblue Defense Systems. “iXblue is not just a supplier of inertial navigation systems. We believe that we can actually bring more robust autonomy to the platform, including a growing importance in providing the positioning solution with our Gaps Global Acoustic Positioning System.”

Rheinmetall’s Sea Snake 27

Rheinmetall’s new light naval gun system Sea Snake-27 succeeds its MLG 27 system and is designed specifically for maritime applications as a primary armament for small craft or a secondary armament for larger ships.

The 27 mm Mauser BK27 cannon was again chosen for its high accuracy and rate of fire but the rest of the SeaSnake 30 mount is new, fitted with a 30 mm KCE30/ABM cannon and offering greater range as well as the ability to use programmable airburst ammunition along with new internals, new electronics, reduced radar cross-section (RCS). It also has an option to mount an independently controlled stabilised electro-optical/infrared sensor package.

According to Rheinmetall, the carbon fibre construction has reduced weight and compared with an MLG 27 system fully loaded with 90 rounds, the SeaSnake 27 variant will weigh less than 600 kg with 225 rounds of ammunition. The SeaSnake 30 will weigh about 620 kg with 135 rounds.

Dassault’s Rafale Showcase

With its Euronaval booth including 1/10th scale models of Rafale M, Falcon 2000MRA, ATL2, UCAS (Unmanned Combat Air System), NGF (New Generation Fighter), Dassault celebrated the Rafale Marine as the most modern combat aircraft in service in France.

Having entered service in 2002, the Rafale Marine naval platform is a major tool for power projection able to overcome borders and travel up to 1000 km/d to act anywhere in the world under weak notice, exempting diplomatic or geographical constraints.

On national territory, the Rafale Marine participates as an aerial safeguard in the navy’s permanent safety posture, having the qualities to ensure full participation within the safety of national airspace and in-flight assistance missions. The Rafale has also been engaged in the specific devices deployed during high-risk events.

When used on board an aircraft carrier, the Rafale provides excellent flexibility of implementation owing to its ability to land with a large amount of undrafted ammunition or fuel. The Rafale’s range of action, its security of implementation (bi-engine), its stability in the approach phase and, the fact of being able to "clear" the plane, given its large oil reserve at the landing, towards a long-distance field in the event of technical difficulties or extreme weather conditions has led to heightened tactical use of Charles de Gaulle airport.

Franco-Italian Innovation

During the exhibition, and the day after the Franco-Italian cooperation announcement in naval industry, the Italian and French shipbuilding industry associations, ASSONAVE and GICAN, signed a common Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) Roadmap for Shipbuilding and ship supply.

Thanks to continuous investments in RDI, the “European Maritime Technology” industry is currently world leader in building high-end ships equipped with sophisticated maritime equipment both for civil and naval purposes. The European Maritime Technology sector includes more than 300 shipyards and 22,000 equipment suppliers, employing more than 900,000 skilled people with an annual production value of € 112.5 billion. A consistent part of the above revenue is generated in France and Italy (SEA EUROPE data).

Shipbuilding is a strategic sector not only for Italy and France, but the whole of Europe. ASSONAVE and GICAN have defined five key areas called “visions”, where major investments should be concentrated for “enabling technologies” and “technical goals” for 2030 and for 2050.

The five key areas defined are: Green Ships (efficient and sustainable solutions for environmentally low-impact ships); Smart Ships (introduction of technologies enhancing onboard services, safety and security efficiently); Autonomous Vessels (pathway toward a fully autonomous ship); Smart Offshore infrastructures (solutions enabling the Blue Economy development); Smart Yards (solutions enhancing productivity, quality, efficiency and safety in full ship production).

“The signature of this roadmap between GICAN and ASSONAVE is the result of several months of discussion for our shipbuilding associations”, declared Hervé Guillou, Chairman of GICAN. “It initiates a strong and lasting cooperation between the companies, to tackle efficiently the new challenges of naval industry, with a focus on RDI. It also prefigures the European understandings needed to strengthen our industry and to compete with our international competitors. We will be happy to present common works in the different committees of Sea Europe”.

Elettronica’s “SEA” DIRCM

The Elettronica Group unveiled its next-generation fully European self-protection Infra-Red DIRCM naval solution at Euronaval. Successfully tested across multiple scenarios and making full use of Elettronica’s experience matured over many NATO international contexts, it has led them to invest further in acquiring high competence management of the latest laser technology based on Quantum Cascade Laser (QCL).

DIRCM laser propagation may be obtained using the multiple band ELT laser system based on European Quantum Cascade Technology and so able to generate beams from a typical I/R countermeasure from mid-wave infrared bands up to an innovative set of cold bands designed to overcome specific maritime weather conditions.

Quantum cascade represents a step forward from conventional semiconductor lasers because QCL energy is generated directly in the band of interest, optimising power consumption simultaneous to output beam. The immediate benefit derives from its capability to address third generation MANPADS threats and can also be used to combat unconventional piracy against surface vessels.

Consequently, intrinsically asymmetric conditions of operations are now making protection against EO/IR guided threats increasingly vital for active countermeasures in a maritime scenario. For example, the Italian Naval Programme’s Elettronica EW Suite is developed to detect and counter threats throughout the electromagnetic spectrum. Elettronica may also extend Naval DIRCM capability by countering imaging guided missiles with the combined use of DIRCM and flares already tested in an airborne scenario.

Orolia’s Naval Solutions

Orolia’s Assured Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) solutions are for continuous operations, even in GPS-denied environments. As the world’s leading provider of Resilient PNT solutions, Orolia delivers trusted technology solutions for critical programmes such as the European GNSS system Galileo and the European Commission's Horizon 2020 HELIOS project for next-gen air, land and sea technology.

Orolia’s Assured PNT solutions provide secure, reliable PNT information/services for any surface, air or underwater naval mission. In shallow or deep-water environments, Orolia’s comprehensive portfolio includes critical infrastructure support for naval command and control centres, essential GPS-vulnerability testing and wearable solutions fitting into the palm of a hand.

Leonardo’s Euronaval

Leonardo highlighted a wide set of naval defence products from heavyweight torpedoes, such as the Black Shark Advanced, to the most innovative Black Arrow representing the new lightweight torpedoes generation. As the only existing 5" torpedo, Leonardo’s Black Scorpion can increase the classification level of the submarine threats and contrast small underwater targets.

Leonardo is one of largest manufacturers of 40 mm naval gun mounts with more than 850 systems in service with 30 navies worldwide, notably the new fully-digital Marlin 40. The VULCANO 127mm and 76mm led a range of naval gun guided ammunition performing with unrivalled accuracy, while Euronaval 2018 featured a dedicated virtual reality area allowing visitors to learn more about the MORPHEUS XR system, a virtual trainer customised for any system to give a truly immersive real life-operating environment.

Leonardo also exhibited its wide range of naval mission helicopters, including the medium twin-engine multirole military NH90 and the advanced unmanned AWHero, selected to perform tasks within the OCEAN 2020 European Defence Research Programme, involving the integration of the Gabbiano Ultralight surveillance radar.

Leonardo also attended Euronaval through its U.S. subsidiary company DRS, displaying the innovative hybrid electric drive (HED) ship propulsion solutions.

Multi-Sensor Integration/Protection Radar

Leading independent sensor solutions provider HENSOLDT presented a full range of naval sensor technologies. The peak in submarine sensor technology was represented in HENSOLDT’s unique twin optronic mast solution combining the OMS 150 and OMS 200 periscopes. Bringing together the latest optronic sensor technologies, such as low light level TV camera, high-definition mid-wave infrared and short-wave infrared, the two periscopes enable new submarine capabilities in all light and weather conditions.

HENSOLDT’s TRS-4D naval radar is designed to support anti-air and anti-surface operations, available with one rotating antenna and in another version with four fixed antenna panels. The radar’s AESA technology delivers increased sensitivity to detect smaller and manoeuvring targets with greater accuracy, as well as providing faster track generation to give naval vessels more time to react to hostile threats. The radar is in the process of being integrated into the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship LCS and the German Navy’s new F125 frigates.

Another section of HENSOLDT’s display was dedicated to protection systems enhancing the survivability of naval vessels. Early warning against laser threats, such as laser beam riding missiles, laser target designators and range finders is provided by the COLDS NGB warning system while secondary radar, transponders and encryption devices ensure reliable identification-friend-or-foe (IFF).

Reference Text/Photo:EURONAVAL / T. NECTOUX

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