DÉFENSE ZONE
On 2 March 2023, the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA) launched production of a series of seven diving support boats (VSP). They will mainly be used for mine countermeasures in shallow waters. “Delivery of VSP No. 2 is scheduled for the third quarter of 2024, and deliveries of the following VSPs will be staggered every three months until the second quarter of 2026”, the DGA states.
The French Navy is currently evaluating the VSP Ophrys, accepted by the DGA in November 2022. This evaluation will continue until the end of March 2023. Satisfactory results have nevertheless already been observed, notably regarding the VSP’s manoeuvrability and navigation capabilities, its range and endurance, and its hyperbaric recompression chamber. They will be used by the Saint-Mandrier diving school (Var) and the three mine clearance diver groups based in Toulon, Brest and Cherbourg.
These 8 vessels will replace the nine mine clearance diver intervention boats that entered active service in the 1990s. The VSPs will be used for mine warfare alongside the mine clearance diver support ships and the tripartite minehunters. These two other components are also being renewed under the “Future Maritime Mine Countermeasures System” (SLAMF) programme. The main missions of the VSPs will include searches and interventions down to sixty metres with a team of sixteen divers, towed sonar searches down to one hundred metres, support for underwater works, and inspections and interventions under ships’ hulls. Thanks to their small size and shallow draught, the VSPs can be deployed in shallow-water areas that are not accessible to larger assets.
“Delivery of VSP No. 2 is scheduled for the third quarter of 2024, and deliveries of the following VSPs will be staggered every three months until the second quarter of 2026”, the DGA states.
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