How Thales is driving technological superiority in Mine Warfare

Where technological excellence meets operational mastery: Thales redefines the future of Mine Countermeasures.

Thales’ expertise in Mine Countermeasures (MCM) is built on unmatched mastery of sonar and data processing systems. From high-resolution imaging to AI-assisted analysis, our technologies turn massive volumes of underwater data into actionable intelligence. This approach ensures faster, more accurate decision-making, reduced mission times, and enhanced crew safety. With solutions such as SAMDIS, MiMap, and M-Cube, Thales offers navies the most advanced, modular, and interoperable systems to maintain decisive superiority in underwater operations.

Thales’ expertise in Mine Countermeasures (MCM) is built on unrivalled mastery of sonar systems as well as mission and data processing software. For decades, we have been designing sensors capable of detecting and classifying underwater threats with exceptional accuracy.

Mine warfare and seabed warfare missions generate massive volumes of data, making their processing and management essential to maintaining information superiority and ensuring fast, effective decision-making. Detecting underwater objects is inherently complex: the diversity of seabed topographies and challenging environmental conditions make these missions demanding and potentially hazardous.

Ever more accurate and versatile sonar sensors

The key differentiator of an MCM system lies in its ability to detect and classify stealthy or concealed objects under harsh sea conditions, while distinguishing them from the natural seabed.

At Thales, beyond designing high-performance sonars, we have developed advanced algorithms and systems that transform raw data into actionable intelligence in record time. Our sonars provide highly detailed imagery, ensuring reliable threat classification.

The SAMDIS sonar, one of the most advanced systems on the market, perfectly illustrates this expertise:

• High-resolution, multi-aspect imaging: provides high-definition sonar images from multiple angles, delivering a precise representation of objects without post-processing.
• Platform versatility: SAMDIS can be deployed on different carriers, such as the TSAM towed sonar for real-time processing or on an AUV, ensuring optimal interoperability and operational flexibility.
• Advanced discrimination capability: when combined with the MiMap data processing software, it distinguishes mines from other underwater objects with outstanding accuracy, reducing false alarms and mission duration.

Operational superiority depends on the ability to rapidly and efficiently exploit sensor data, regardless of the sensor’s performance level.
To meet this challenge, Thales has developed a comprehensive software suite designed to optimize resource use and mission success, including integration with third-party systems.

A modular software suite designed for evolving operations

Our software and mission systems have been developed to optimize the user experience through a modern, intuitive interface. Operators can visualize data clearly and efficiently, enabling faster and more informed decision-making.
Thanks to a modular system architecture, new vehicles, sensors, and functions can easily be integrated over time, ensuring long-term scalability and flexibility.

M-Cube, the integrated mission management system, manages the entire Mine Countermeasures operations — from planning to execution and assessment.
It optimizes mission efficiency by leveraging all available assets for detection, classification, identification, and neutralization.
With communication systems compliant with multiple international standards, M-Cube ensures full coordination and interoperability across naval units, while enabling real-time mission monitoring.

Thales’ mission is to empower users to make the right decisions, faster.
Our systems deliver:

• Reliable, actionable data: through high-performance sensors and advanced algorithms, naval forces receive accurate information, minimizing errors and misidentification.
• Increased responsiveness: our software analyses large data volumes rapidly, avoiding critical delays in detection and neutralisation.
• Reduced cognitive load: by automating much of the sonar data processing, our solutions allow operators to focus on strategy and mission execution.
• Seamless integration: our solutions fit smoothly within existing architectures and operate in synergy with other military systems, ensuring full interoperability with allied forces.

Dedicated software to target intelligence and classification, MiMap processes sonar data to map the seabed, offering automatic object detection and classification, as well as terrain comparison with previous missions.

Powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning, MiMap enhances detection and classification efficiency, allowing operators to focus on complex objects while reducing cognitive workload. The result: fewer false positives, faster classification, less need for manual identification prior to neutralization, shorter missions, and improved operational performance.

Proven technologies in real-world conditions

Building on our extensive experience in Mine Countermeasures and user feedback from naval crews, Thales has developed agile and modular solutions such as the Expeditionary PathMaster, allowing navies to progressively integrate capabilities tailored to their operational needs.

With our open System-of-Systems approach, combining performance, modularity, and scalability, we deliver flexible solutions adapted to every mission profile, all sharing the same core mission management and sonar data analysis framework.

By mastering every level of system design — from sensor development to full integration — Thales provides naval forces with high-performance, fully integrated, and modular MCM systems.

See better. Understand better. Act faster. With Thales, navies gain the technological edge to protect their fleets, secure maritime routes, and execute missions with confidence.

Our proven systems have undergone rigorous qualifications in real-world operational environments, including sea state 4 conditions, validating their robustness and performance under demanding circumstances.

Uncrewed Surface Vehicles (USVs) have demonstrated outstanding endurance, with over 3,000 cumulative hours of navigation during testing and validation phases.

These trials confirmed the technological maturity of our solutions, from system-of-systems management to autonomous navigation in minehunting operations, and their effectiveness in realistic scenarios. These qualifications have led to tangible milestones:

• December 2024: delivery of the first autonomous MCM system to the French Navy
• March 2025: delivery of an equivalent system to the Royal Navy
• October 2025: the French navy was delivered an additional surface drone equipped with a towed sonar

These deliveries mark a decisive turning point in the adoption of drone-based and autonomous Mine Countermeasure systems, crowning several years of co-development, technological innovation, and intensive testing in close collaboration with end users.