EURONAVAL 2022 | 18 - 21 October | ECA Group Solutions

Since 1936, ECA Group develops and delivers for its customers specialist robots, automated systems, simulation and industrial process engineering. Discover our latest innovative solutions for Defence & Security.

ECA Group supports navies in succeeding in their missions while ensuring the safety of their crews. We offer a wide range of innovative and comprehensive technological solutions to face current and future challenges, constantly innovating to improve their capabilities and performance to carry out ever more complex missions in hostile or restrictive environments.

MCM SOLUTIONS

sEABED WARFARE

SHIP EQUIPMENT

CONFERENCES

ECA Group expertise presented at EURONAVAL ONLINE

Mine Counter Measures: Detect - Classify - Identify - Neutralise

Naval mines are a very easy and cheap way to impact a nation’s economy by putting at-risk men, equipment and coastal infrastructures. Moreover, still a large number of historical mines used during both World Wars have yet been removed or neutralised

ECA Group offers interoperable systems capable of tackling the most demanding Mine Counter Measures and is the first to materialise the “stand-off concept”: ECA Group systems efficiently locate, identify and neutralise underwater threats, while keeping crews at a stand-off distance from the minefield. This system is already in use within several navies and will soon equip the Belgian and Royal Dutch navies.

UMIS - Unmanned MCM Integrated System

Developed by ECA Group, UMIS^TM the Unmanned MCM Integrated System is an innovative and complete robotic system dedicated to MCM composed of ECA Group naval drones:

• Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs)
• Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)
• Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs)
• Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs)
• Towed sonars

UMIS^TM can be integrated onboard specialised vessels or non-dedicated ships. Its containerised version, UMIS^TM in the Box, can be deployed from the ships or directly from shore since it is both road and air transportable.

UMISOFT: A comprehensive software suite

Operations are conducted thanks to a unique interface, using an advanced Command & Control System as well as a dedicated software suite, UMISOFT^TM. This software offers for the first time the possibility of using a fully integrated latest-generation system, interconnecting all the phases of a MCM mission within a comprehensive and intelligent process, with each component and player sharing the same operational data in real time..

The different phases which are detection, classification, identification and neutralization are planned, prepared, run, 

UMISAS

A NEW GENERATION OF SYNTHETIC APERTURE SONARS

Driven by operational needs of Navies requesting high performance and more compact unmanned solutions for mine detection missions, ECA GROUP brings on the market their own sonar technology to be fitted on its naval drones and fully integrated into its unmanned systems.

The UMISAS sonars are interferometric synthetic aperture sonars (InSAS) used for mine detection missions as part of Mine Countermeasures operations at sea. It uses innovative underwater imaging technology that considerably improves seabed surveys by providing ultra-high resolution imagery at superior coverage rates, in terms of resolution compared to conventional side scan sonars. Combining several dozens of acoustic pings to form an image with a much higher resolution, UMISAS processes raw data into 3 cm X 3 cm resolution images, constant with range, together with high area coverage rates. Thus, it optimally classify small and irregularly shaped objects on the seabed.

The A18-M AUV and T18-M Towed Sonar have the best performance when fitted with UMISAS sonars. Thus, these drones are exclusively commercialized with UMISAS sonars

Seabed Warfare

Deep Ocean Survey & Protection

Today, underwater monitoring is essential to ensure the integrity of the assets laying on the seabed (communication cables, pipelines etc.). With its range of AUVs, ECA Group addresses the dual requirements of scientific knowledge and military intelligence.

With its A18 AUV range, ECA Group offers the best balance for compactness, endurance, performance, modularity, data quality, innovation and competitiveness to operate up to 3000m depth.

ECA Group’s latest innovative AUV milestone is the ultra-deep water AUV. Designed and produced in collaboration with Ifremer (French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea), this AUV features numerous new technologies to accomplish disruptive mission scenarios associating long range multi-sensor surveying with event-driven close-to-seafloor hovering for optical ground truthing and local inspection. Designed for exploration of the deep ocean, it operates down to 6000m ocean depth for up to 48 hours.

Ship Equipment & Protection

ECA Group’s offer is reinforced by its wide range of equipment that can operate in challenging environments for ships, submarines and their crew: platform management, control & command systems, and propulsion & energy systems.

Magnetic Risk Management

As a precaution against magnetic mines, reducing magnetisation helps protect vessels. ECA Group offers deperming and degaussing systems to manage vessels’ signature. Discover also ECA Group’s system STERNA® based on the UAV IT180, an aerial portable magnetic ranging system, quickly deployable, which allows to complete a full operation in 1 hour.

Propulsion & Energy Converters

ECA Group's propulsion and energy conversion solutions are sea proven and in service within several navies. These highly robust systems can be integrated onto different platforms - nuclear or conventional – and are compatible with any type of submarine design.

The integration of complex electrical networks and use of the latest technologies such as silicon carbide chips guarantee unparalleled performance and operators’ safety.

Steering & Diving Consoles & Simulators

ECA Group is also an expert of Steering and Diving Consoles, a generic sea proven product that manages the 3D motion of submarines, by controlling diving planes and Rudder. Its open and modular architecture allows the consoles to be adaptable to any submarine design and are designed integrating the laws of silent piloting.

Increasing the performance, skills and capabilities of the crews, ECA Group’s simulators recreate accurately the equipment's behaviour as in real underwater conditions. Crews can thus learn how to fix breakdowns without damaging the submarine, which better ensures experience and anticipation of potential technical difficulties and risks.