Double Eagle UUVs for Finland’s New Minesweepers
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Saab Underwater Systems has received an SEK 80 million (about $11.6 million) order from the German company Atlas Elektronik (now part of EADS) for its Double Eagle UUV(unmanned underwater vehicles). The Double Eagle Systems are remotely operated underwater vehicles used for mine hunting and other operations; the upgraded Double Eagle Mk.III systems will be prepared for SAROV configuration, which means that the vehicles can be operated as fully autonomous Unmanned Underwater Vehicles. Previous versions of the Double Eagle UUV were already in serrvice with Finland’s Navy; Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, and the Netherlands also operate Double Eagles.
The new UUVs will be installed on Finland’s new minesweepers; Atlas Elektronik is acting as the systems integrator. As Saab Underwater Systems CEO Lars Tossman added in Saab’s corporate release:
“The Finnish Navy has extensive experience and knowledge of mine hunting. Since the middle of the 1990s, when they bought their first Double Eagle system, they have furthermore achieved genuine understanding of the usefulness of remotely operated underwater vehicles… This order is particularly important since the Finnish Navy’s new mine hunting vessels will be assigned to very important national and international missions, especially within the MCM(Mine Counter Measures) area. This is not least the case in the Baltic Sea, where the amount of left-over naval mines and also other environmental threats is extensive.”
This is of course very surprising, given Finland’s close proximity to its friendly, careful, and respectful Russian neighbor.
