The U.S. Navy is buying a remote way for sailors to find sea mines without steaming into a minefield, and a Thales subsidiary will build the first hardware. Advanced Acoustic Concepts (AAC), the U.S. undersea warfare unit of Thales Group, received a $53.9 million Navy contract to produce and deliver two integrated Remote Mine Hunting (RMH) modules plus engineering support, Ocean News & Technology reported on November 2. Options for additional modules could lift the cumulative value to approximately $196.2 million.
Breaking Defense reported that the first two modules are slated for delivery by October 2029, with potential follow-on modules delivered through 2039 and beyond. That schedule turns a modest initial award into a production line that could run for more than a decade if the Navy exercises its options.
The figures come from the company's announcement as carried by those outlets. GovConFeed did not locate a matching entry in the Pentagon's daily contract listings, so the contract number, contracting activity and competition details have not been published in the sources reviewed here.
What the $53.9M Buys: Sonar, Software and Two Modules
The base award covers two complete RMH module suites and the engineering support to field them. According to Ocean News, the Thales RMH solution "integrates advanced sonar, mission management software, and remotely operated vehicle technology into a module suite designed to support the Navy's rapidly evolving mine warfare requirements."
Two components anchor the suite. The first is an advanced multiview towed synthetic aperture sonar (SAS), which provides high-resolution mine detection and imaging and reduces false target rates. Breaking Defense identified the sensor as Thales' SAMDIS 600 sonar. The second is a set of AI-augmented automatic target recognition (ATR) algorithms and software applications that let sailors process, classify, map and manage mine-hunting data quickly, shortening the time to "find and fix" while raising the probability of target certainty.
Tony Lengerich, vice president of naval programs with Thales Defense & Security, Inc., told Breaking Defense that the SAMDIS 600 uses a three-beam system that improves certainty in a single pass through a minefield. "You get three looks at an object instead of just one look," Lengerich said. "Those three pictures, if you will, really increase the certainty that you're looking at a mine, not a Volkswagen somebody tossed in the ocean somewhere."
Mike Carnovale, president of Advanced Acoustic Concepts, framed the award as a consolidation of Thales' mine warfare portfolio. "This program brings together the most advanced mine warfare technologies across the Thales portfolio, with AAC's deep experience delivering integrated undersea warfare capability to the US Navy," Carnovale said, according to Ocean News. He added that the company is integrating "sonar, classification software, and future remote neutralization capabilities into a single operational solution" for both manned and unmanned surface vessel platforms.
How Remote Mine Hunting Fits the Navy's "Find, Fix and Finish" Model
The RMH solution supports the Navy's mine countermeasures (MCM) mission through what Thales calls the "Find, Fix and Finish" approach to defeating mine threats. The capability lets sailors remotely detect, locate and classify undersea mines while operating from safer stand-off distances, which Ocean News said enhances mission effectiveness and reduces risk in contested maritime environments.
"The ability to counter undersea mine threats remains fundamental to maritime security and naval mission success," said Rob Geckle, CEO of Thales North America. "By advancing the Navy's MCM capabilities, this program will help strengthen fleet readiness and support mission success in an increasingly dynamic operating environment."
The award lands as mine clearance has moved from a niche specialty to an operational priority. Breaking Defense noted that U.S. Central Command began mine clearing missions in the Strait of Hormuz in April during Operation Epic Fury, and that President Donald Trump said in August that mines in the waterway had been cleared.
Why the HII Demonstration Matters for the Full Kill Chain
Thales paired the contract news with a separate demonstration that shows where the "finish" step could go. Thales and HII announced that they deployed the SAMDIS 600 sonar on HII's Remus 620 unmanned underwater vehicle, which Breaking Defense described as capable of long-range, multi-day operations.
In that exercise, Thales' Expeditionary Portable Operation Center command and control system served as the operational hub, while HII's Odyssey command and control software handled mission planning and management. HII's Sea Launcher automated launch and recovery system deployed and retrieved the REMUS vehicle. After analyzing the sonar and UUV data, the teams used AAC's ANGLER underwater effector to neutralize detected mines.
"Keeping the sailor out of the field is a critical part of that," Nicholas Green, senior manager of international business development with HII, told Breaking Defense. On getting equipment in and out of the water, he added: "That's always been a difficult part of what we do."
The demonstration is not part of the RMH contract as reported. It does show Thales and AAC assembling detection, classification and neutralization pieces that Carnovale's "future remote neutralization capabilities" language points toward.
What It Means for Contractors
The structure of this award matters as much as its size. A $53.9 million base for two modules, with options reaching approximately $196.2 million and deliveries potentially running through 2039, gives AAC a long production tail. Suppliers of towed-body hardware, sonar electronics, ruggedized processing and handling gear should watch for subcontracting opportunities as AAC ramps toward the October 2029 delivery date.
The software side is equally significant. AI-augmented automatic target recognition is a named deliverable, not a research add-on. Firms working on sonar image classification, data management and mission planning tools for undersea systems now have a fielded Navy program that treats those capabilities as core requirements.
The HII teaming points to a broader opportunity. Thales is demonstrating its sonar and neutralizer on another company's UUV and command software, and Carnovale described the solution as serving both manned and unmanned surface vessel platforms. Vehicle makers, launch-and-recovery specialists and command-and-control software vendors should expect integration work as the Navy pushes sailors further from the minefield.
Contractors should also note what is not yet public. Without a Pentagon contract listing in the sources reviewed, the contracting office, contract vehicle and whether the award was competed remain unconfirmed. Firms tracking the program should watch for the official announcement and for option exercises, which will signal whether the Navy intends to buy beyond the first two modules.
