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Katanpää MCMV 2010 Mine Hunter

The Katanpää class comprises three vessels: MHC Katanpaa (40), MHC Purunpää (41) and MHC Vahterpää (42). The names of the ships are preceded by the English abbreviation MHC (Mine Hunter Coastal). Katanpää-class ships are an Italian design. The modern mine-fighting vessels, built with the versatile system and fleet range, constructed in Intermarine shipyard. The ships belong to the coastal Fleet 4. The home base is Turku's Pansiossa.The mission of mine-fighting vessels is to protect nationally important maritime connections from the mine threat. Vessels can also be utilized for seabed Detection of underwater explosives, underwater search and identification tasks, and various post-assistance tasks.

Mines are defined as explosive devices that are placed on the surface, at the depth or at the bottom of a sea, designed to damage or sink vessels by affecting their underwater hull or preventing the use of a designated sea area. Sea mines can be grouped in many different ways, such as location (floating, anchored, bottom mine, moving), function (touch or wake) or intended use or target (landing or submarine).

The Katanpää-class mine countermeasure vessels were initially referred to as the MCMV 2010 class after the mine countermeasure development project and "MITO class" after the Finnish word for mine countermeasures, miinantorjunta. The Finnish Navy signed a EUR 245 million contract in 2006 with the Italian Intermarine SpA. The vessels represent the latest naval fleet and have been deployed between 2012 and 2017.

Under the original plan, the first and second ships were to be delivered to the Navy in 2011 and the third in 2012. They were to be operationally operational by 2015. But floods in Italy at the shipyard delayed ship completion, and the first, MHC Katanpää , arrived in Finland in early June 2012. The organization of the Mine Squadron. Next, MHC Purunpää, arrived at the Port of Turku on September 21, 2013. The third ship of the class, MHC Vahterpä, was scheduled to arrive in Finland in 2014. Following delays, it was handed over in December 2016.

The main tasks of vessels are the protection of maritime traffic: anti-personnel mining and seabed exploration. Other tasks include seafaring, submarine combat, officiating and international missions. The ships are armed with a 40mm cannon and two 12.7mm ship machine guns or two 40mm grenade launcher guns and depth bombs. The vessels have highly sophisticated sensors for mining and exploration, as well as mine clearance systems. There is also a pressure chamber for divers. There are 36 personnel on board, of which 12 are generally trained military personnel.

Sea mining has always been an asymmetric threat, in that the cost of procuring and laying one or even a large number of sea mines can be very small compared to the consequence to an opposing force. Traditionally, the main purpose of mining is not to destroy ships, but to deny an adversary access to a given port or shipping lane or at least slow him down. During World War II, some 60,000 sea mines were laid in the Gulf of Finland and the Northern Baltic Sea. The post-war clearance period lasted for several years, during which the Finns cleared nearly 10,000 mines or clearing barriers. The clearance task was demanding, dangerous, and of considerable scale, and no casualties were avoided. The fleet was also very different and more modest than today: some of them even operate on steam engines.

A century ago, anti-personnel mining was carried out with a very diverse fleet, but today the Finnish Navy has at its disposal three Katanpää-class specialized anti-personnel vessels and a number of smaller smaller vessels. As the 2010s approached, minefields entered a new era. The contract for the supply of new anti-personnel vessels was drawn up following a competitive bidding process with the Italian Intermarine shipyard in 2006 and delivered to Finland in 2012-2016. In addition, the acquisition included a Mine Warfare Data Center (MWDC), spare parts for the Katanpää class, and an extensive training package. The seafloor information contained in the data center is maintained under normal conditions to maximize the effectiveness of detection of changes during abnormal conditions.

The primary task of the Katanpää class vessels is to secure nationally important sea links. In addition, the duties of the ship class include seafloor mapping, de-seaing and other underwater exploration and identification. For the task, the vessels are equipped with a state-of-the-art sensor array. There are two independently operating underwater systems, two remote-controlled systems integrated on board, and sediment, chamfer and multi-beam sonar probes available for bottom survey tasks. In addition, Katanpää-class vessels are fitted with hull-mounted sonars. The vessel's sensors are capable of detecting, classifying and identifying any sea-bed or intermediate mine-like targets. In addition, the vessel is equipped with mine clearance equipment.

In August 2007 Saab Underwater Systems received an order for underwater vehicles designated for the Finnish Navy's new mine hunting vessels. The value of the order, including options, exceeds SEK 80 million. The procurer is the German company Atlas Elektronik, which integrated the systems on the vessels. The Double Eagle Systems are remotely operated underwater vehicles, and used by navies all over the world for mine hunting and other operations.

“It is a great pleasure that we once again win an order for Double Eagle to yet another new MCM (Mine Countermeasures) program. After a very thorough evaluation, the Finnish Navy has decided to choose the Double Eagle systems fortheir new MCMV 2010 vessels,” says Lars Tossman, CEO of Saab Underwater Systems. “The Finnish Navy has extensive experience and knowledge of mine hunting. Since the middle of the 1990s, when they bought their first Double Eagle system, they have furthermore achieved genuine understanding of the usefulness of remotely operated underwater vehicles. This order displays a continued confidence in our ability, and is furthermore a very important recognition of the Double Eagle system's capacity and potential for further development,” Lars Tossman continued.

And in August 2007 L-3 Klein Associates was awarded a contract for the Finnish Navy which will include three Klein System 5000 high resolution, dynamically focused, multi-beam side-scan sonars. The sonars will be part of a suite of sensors that will be installed on the Finnish Navy MCMV 2010 Program. These systems were sold through EIVA a/s (Denmark).

The System 5000 is a five-beam side-scan sonar designed for hydrographic, military, and commercial applications requiring high-resolution images of the seafloor and bottom obstructions, while operating at tow speeds up to 10 knots and with an overall swath width of 300 metres. The System 5000 is designed to provide constant resolution, regardless of speed, by adjusting the ping rate and overlapping beams to produce 100 per cent bottom coverage with a constant 20cm (normal resolution mode) or 10cm (high resolution mode) along-track resolution. The combination of high speed and high resolution make the System 5000 a very capable instrument for oceanographic work.

Katanpää-class ships have an electric driveline against the sound of the noise, which makes driving almost silent underwater. Similarly, the ship's propulsion solution minimizes the excitation caused by cavitation. The magnetism of the vessel is minimized by the fact that the structures are composite based, ie practically glass and carbon fiber. The advantage of the structural solution is the so-called shock resistance, ie the ability to absorb the pressure shot from the mine, since the fiberglass body is somewhat flexible.

The NATO Response Force (NRF) is a high readiness force that can be deployed in a variety of NATO operations. Participation requires verified performance from the VU. For the Katanpää class, performance was successfully verified at the end of 2018, when Vahterpää, the anti-personnel vessel, passed NATO's Operational Capabilities, Concept Evaluation and Feedback. The evaluation process took about 18 months. The evaluation culminated with the Northern Coasts 2018 exercise, with the NATO International Review Team monitoring the activity in Vahterpää for a week during the Northern Coasts 2018 exercise. The monitoring focused in particular on the competence of the personnel in various tasks and exercises on board. Staff were also interviewed.

The approved result of Vahterpää in the evaluation also meant approval for its sister ships, Katanpää and Purunpää. All three ships in the Katanpää class are identical and their personnel are uniformly trained. The Katanpää-class road to NATO Response Force and full operational capability will continue through the fall of 2019 through the Mine Countermeasure Vessels Operational Sea Training. It is a training program organized by the NATO Mine Action Center of Excellence, which focuses specifically on the evaluation of mine clearance skills.