SH Defence conducts first sea trials of Cube minelaying system

SH Defence's Cube modular minelaying system on display at DSEI 2023. (Janes/Alex Pape)

Danish defence company SH Defence has trialled its Cube modular minelaying system from the Royal Danish Navy's (RDN's) Arctic patrol ship Knud Rasmussen (P 570). The trials were undertaken with the Danish Ministry of Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organisation (DALO), the RDN, the Danish Defence Innovation Unit (DDIU), Finland's Forcit Defence, and Atlas Elektronik Finland Oy.

An official demonstration of the system was conducted on 11 June in Danish waters and the trials and demonstration were announced in separate LinkedIn posts by DALO, DDIU, and René Bertelsen, CEO of SH Defence.

Bertelsen told Janes the sea trials involved both semi-automatic and automatic minelaying on six different minelaying routes using a total of 16 mines. The trials were undertaken with the participation of 16 countries and he said that trials with several other countries, in their home waters, are also planned. Bertelsen also confirmed that a recent sale of the Cube minelaying system had been achieved but could not disclose the customer.

The Cube minelaying and mine storage system comprises a 20 ft ISO container with the mine-launching system, and one or more storage modules for the mines. It can deploy mines automatically or semi-automatically, removing the need for manual deployment. The system also reduces the number of crew required, with the possibility of operation by a single crew member if required, according to SH Defence. The company has also said that the system can be rapidly installed on vessels of opportunity. The Cube is a multimission system, with other variants including a launch-and-recovery system for unmanned surface or underwater vehicles, boats, and mini-submarines, or an unmanned aerial vehicle deployment system.