France launches pilotless mine-hunting vessel
December 10th, 2010 - 12:26 pm ICT by IANSParis, Dec 10 (IANS) France has launched the first pilotless vessel to be used in demining operations, the defence ministry has said.
The “mine counter-operations” vessel was launched Thursday in the northwestern waters off the country, Xinhua reported citing a French defence ministry statement.
The unmanned surface vessel (USV) - about 17 metres long and weighing 25 tonnes - will be equipped with a sonar in 2011.
It is expected to demonstrate how unmanned underwater robotic vehicles can replace human work to remove mines from a danger zone, the ministry said.
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Tags: danger zone, defence ministry, demining operations, french defence, hunting, ministry statement, paris, tonnes, underwater robotic vehicles, unmanned surface vessel, usv, xinhua