iXblue navigation systems for Polish Navy’s new MCMVs

iXblue inertial navigation systems (INS) have been selected to provide critical navigation capabilities to the Polish Navy’s new Kormoran II-class mine countermeasure vessels (MCMVs).

iXblue partner, THESTA, will be responsible for integrating and delivering the INS to PGZ Stocznia Wojenna, a member of the PGZ Group, a contractor of naval navigation, communications and combat systems in Poland.

Developed as part of the Polish naval modernization program, the new class of modern mine countermeasure vessels will improve maritime safety and security in Polish waters. The vessels will be used to combat naval mine threats in the Polish exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and will also be deployed by the tactical task forces in the Baltic Sea and North Sea regions.

The lead ship in the class, ORP Kormoran was commissioned in November 2017. The second ship, ORP Albatros, was launched in October 2019 and the third unit, ORP Mewa, in December 2020.

“The Kormoran II-class vessels are an innovative mine hunting program that will embark advanced technologies and we are very proud for our Inertial Navigation Systems to have been chosen for such major program,” Jens Higgen, Sales Director at iXblue, commented.

“Equipped with our inertial navigation systems, the Polish Navy new vessels will benefit from reliable … navigation information, regardless of the environment, including within GNSS denied areas, ensuring undisrupted mine countermeasure operations.”

Based on fiber-optic gyroscope (FOG) technology, iXblue navigation solutions, including the company’s inertial navigation systems, as well as Netans navigation data distribution & computation systems (DDU), already equip surface ships, submarines and unmanned vehicles in 40 national navies and coast guards.

Those include major programs such as the Belgian and Royal Netherlands Navies MCM Replacement Program, Spanish future F110-class multi-mission frigates, the French Navy’s future frigates, the new Astute-class nuclear attack submarines and the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers of the UK Royal Navy, as well as the F123 (Brandenburg-class) and F122 (Bremen-class) frigates of the German Navy.