To meet the growing complexity of modern mine countermeasure missions, Forcys and Eelume have joined forces to deliver a new class of agile autonomous capability. Pairing Eelume’s manoeuvrable autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) platform with Forcys’ integrated sonar and optical systems from Wavefront Systems and Voyis, will enables navies to locate, assess and confirm underwater threats with greater certainty across complex seabed terrain.
Together, these technologies mark a major advance in autonomous and networked mine countermeasure operations, allowing smaller and smarter systems to deliver the same certainty and coverage once limited to large, manned vessels.
Clearing and securing coastal waters, harbours and confined seabed areas remains one of the most difficult tasks faced by navies today. Conventional AUVs are optimised either for endurance or manoeuvrability, rarely both. In shallow or topographically complex terrain, these limitations create data blind spots, forcing navies to rely on slower and less certain minesweeping techniques.
Thomas Nygaard, CEO at Eelume, said, “Modern mines hide in the most challenging seabed environments — among rocks, slopes and narrow channels that traditional AUVs can’t fully access. Eelume S combines detection, classification and identification in one system, eliminating the need for ROV operations and reducing time-consuming mine sweeping through its manoeuvrability, advanced sensor suite and in-mission processing capabilities. This keeps personnel and vessels out of the minefield and makes MCM safer, faster and more efficient.”
The challenge lay in developing a compact, versatile platform that could deliver both wide-area detection and detailed inspection in any seabed environment, from open waters to confined littoral zones, without compromising range or endurance.
Forcys acts as the integrator of a powerful ecosystem of subsea technologies, bringing together proven innovations from across its group to deliver fully optimised solutions for the end user.
Through the integration of Wavefront Systems’ multi-aperture sonar Solstice and Voyis’ optical imaging systems, Forcys will enable Eelume S to achieve both the wide-area efficiency and close-range fidelity essential to modern MCM missions.
- Solstice delivers image quality close to synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) but at roughly one-tenth of the data burden and with substantially lower power demand. Its tolerance to platform motion makes it ideal for shallow-water and high-relief environments, requiring frequent manoeuvres, where SAS systems are less effective.
- Voyis Observer Imaging System provides high-resolution stills with true-colour representation, enabling rapid visual identification of potential threats once detected.
By acting as a single integration partner, Forcys ensures the optimal synergy between vehicle, sonar and camera systems, streamlining deployment and simplifying logistics for naval customers.
The Solution
The Eelume S platform introduces a flexible, bio-inspired propulsion system featuring dual counter-rotating propellers mounted on an articulated tail. This design grants independent control of pitch, yaw, and roll, allowing the vehicle to move fluidly around obstacles, maintain stability close to the seabed, and capture detailed sensor data in environments inaccessible to conventional AUVs.
Equipped with Forcys’ integrated sensor suite, Eelume S can perform wide-area sonar sweeps to detect and classify objects before transitioning seamlessly to close-range optical inspection for identification. The system’s compact size makes it easy to deploy from uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) for extended, fully remote multi-vehicle operations.
In trials across Norway’s complex coastal terrain, the platform demonstrated consistent area coverage and the ability to deliver actionable, high-resolution data at a fraction of the bandwidth normally required for SAS missions.
Thomas Nygaard, “We outperform traditional AUVs, not just on complex bathymetry, but also on flat seabeds because we can operate closer to the seabed and capture higher-quality images. With the Solstice MAS sonar integrated we get the best of both worlds, combining agile movement with the data quality needed to act quickly on targets.”
The Result
The integration of Eelume S with Forcys’ advanced sonar and imaging systems represents a major evolution in mine countermeasure capability.
The combined system enables Detection, Classification and Identification (DCI) from a single AUV, reducing mission time and complexity while increasing operational certainty.
The solution delivers:
- Greater operational certainty: Precise detection and identification even in confined, high-relief seabeds.
- Enhanced safety and efficiency: Reduced reliance on crewed minesweeping, minimising risk to personnel.
- Scalable autonomy: Compatibility with USVs and networked MCM concepts for coordinated multi-vehicle operations.
- Reduced data burden: Actionable information at lower bandwidth and power consumption, enabling faster mission processing.
For countries like the UK, where complex littoral zones, busy ports and vital offshore infrastructure demand reliable protection, this capability provides an agile and interoperable tool that enhances both national and NATO defence readiness.
Justin Hains, Forcys Business Development Manager, commented; “This collaboration with Eelume demonstrates how Forcys is enabling navies forces like the Royal Navy to operate more effectively in challenging environments previousy considered unhuntable. The integration of Wavefront Systems MAS and Voyis imaging on the Eelume AUV delivers detection, classification and identification from a single platform, a capability proven in Norway’s fjords where traditional AUVs fail due to complex bathymetry. For UK missions at home and deployed, this means faster, safer and more reliable coverage across critical littoral zones.”
By bridging innovation and integration, Forcys and Eelume are transforming how the world’s navies see, understand, and secure the underwater domain.
Forcys, a global leader in underwater defense technology, and DRASS, a renowned name in the manufacturing of diving systems and underwater vehicles, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at revolutionizing underwater operations.
Forcys integrates and brings to the defense market world-changing solutions from leading technology partners Chelsea Technologies, EIVA, Sonardyne, Voyis, and Wavefront Systems. These companies are renowned for their innovative offerings in underwater and maritime operations, making them ideal partners for DRASS.
Luca Biasci, SDV & LUUV Program Manager at DRASS, emphasizes the significance of this collaboration: “DRASS has consistently been at the forefront of technological innovation in the underwater domain. With this partnership, Forcys’ robust portfolio of advanced payload technologies will be integrated with our Large Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (LUUVs), RONDA, expanding our suite of solutions to meet the evolving demands of the underwater sector.”
Under this agreement, Forcys’ advanced underwater vehicle systems and sensor payloads will complement DRASS’ capability to meet the evolving needs of navies.
Antonio J. Belfiore, who leads sales in the Europe, Middle East, India, and Africa (EMEIA) region for Forcys, recently visited DRASS headquarters in Livorno, where the final details of the agreement were ironed out.
“We are thrilled to partner with DRASS, a company that shares our commitment to innovation and excellence,” said Antonio J. Belfiore. “This partnership allows us to combine our expertise and provides customers with state-of-the-art systems that enhance operational capabilities and ensure safety and efficiency in underwater missions.”
Both companies are committed to pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the underwater domain, leveraging their combined expertise to deliver state-of-the-art solutions to defense markets worldwide.
Forcys brings together leading technologies, offering a comprehensive naval and subsea capability to the Australian defense market
Evolving threats, unlawful maritime claims, military coercion, all these factors are destabilizing the Asia Pacific region and causing many lawful states to reconsider their defense strategies. Australia’s 2020 Defence Strategic Update and the anticipated March 2023 release of Australia’s Defence Strategic Review has brought these issues into sharp focus while demanding growing self-reliance for delivering deterrent effects. Today’s launch of Forcys Australia and the appointment of Sean Leydon as Regional Manager for Asia Pacific, is in direct support to this strategic need.
Backed by over fifty years of experience, Forcys offers the global maritime defense sector, remote, autonomous and networked control capabilities that deliver integrated situational awareness to customers in the underwater domain.
Covering a range of maritime operations including asset protection, littoral strike, mine warfare, submarine rescue, and submarine and anti-submarine warfare, Forcys seeks to transform the underwater domain by enabling increasingly distributed and automated operations. This is made possible by integrating and bringing to market world-changing solutions from leading technology partners Chelsea Technologies, EIVA, Sonardyne, Voyis and Wavefront Systems.
Commenting on the Australia launch, Ioseba Tena, Commercial Director of Forcys, said: ‘I am excited, Australia is taking bold decisions in the underwater domain. There’s been a realization that uncrewed systems take a lot of the risk out of the conflict, they afford higher levels of attrition and deliver higher coverage rates. The sense of urgency is palpable and there is an appetite to work with industry experts to support the transition. We are keen to support a sovereign, sustainable capability.’
Sean Leydon, Regional Manager for Forcys’ Asia Pacific region, explains: ‘Our technology partners already engage with the Australian Government and industry, so our initial focus will be on improving those interactions by providing an in-country presence. However, our ambition doesn’t stop there, we are actively recruiting engineers to help support our existing customers and in time to develop sovereign capability. I’m looking forward to help make a difference.’
Forcys is exhibiting at the NAVDEX exhibition in the United Arab Emirates between 20th and 24th February 2023 at stand A-029. If you’d like to arrange a meeting with the Forcys team, please get in touch.
In Brief
In this project, the University of Tasmania evaluated the capabilities of optical-based sensors when using an AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) to dynamically survey large areas and identify specific objects of interest within environments. Based on the performance of the systems and the overall process, recommendations will be made to Defence Science and Technology for using this technique when trying to identify a mine-like object (MLO) underwater.
The challenge
Wide-area sensors, like sonar, can be used for mine detection, but don’t always offer enough details for the identification stage. Meaning that historically, underwater mine identification has been done by deploying divers or remotely operated vehicles.
The solution
Our technology partner, Voyis, develop high-resolution optical systems capable of rendering laser point cloud data and capturing 4k stills images. These provide a complete visual understanding of mine-like objects (MLOs), improving mission lethality, and reducing risk by limiting diver deployments in the minefield.
The Insight Pro laser scanner, the stills camera Observer Pro, and the Nova LED panel were bottom mounted in the University of Tasmania’s ISE Explorer AUV . All data was collected and saved to the onboard storage of the sensors; image data was processed in real-time. The AUV travelled at an altitude between 1.5-15m while the laser and stills system collected data, operating harmoniously to ensure laser and stills data sets of the same targets were collected.
The result
Voyis sensors were easily integrated into the Explorer AUV and generated crisp 4K images. The data collected provided enough details for the easy identification of objects, allowing users to distinguish between mines and similar objects found underwater.
The crisp stills images are enhanced in real time, for complete situational awareness in warfare operations. Images are corrected to remove all aspects of the water medium – color, lighting, and distortions. The results provide a significant improvement in relation to conventional optical systems typically mounted on AUVs. From now AUVs can potentially be used to build wide area high-resolution maps of the subsea environment.
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