The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has awarded a £100 million contract to Thales UK Limited for the development and integration of up to eight Remote Command Centres (RCCs) as part of its

growing Mine Hunting Capability (MHC) programme.

According to a Voluntary Transparency Notice (VTN), the contract was awarded without a prior competition, citing technical reasons. The MoD stated that only Thales possesses the specific tools, knowledge, and experience required to meet its complex technical needs.

These RCCs will serve as centralized command hubs for the Royal Navy’s mine countermeasure operations, unifying a currently fragmented array of platforms and autonomous systems. The goal is to create a single, integrated command and control system for all MHC-related assets.

The contract also includes software development, training, and specialist technical support. It offers the possibility of three one-year extensions.

Thales' RCC technology is already at the heart of the UK's existing Maritime Mine Counter Measures (MMCM) programme, developed through an international collaboration. The MoD emphasized that this existing system will form the foundation for the new, expanded RCCs, making Thales uniquely suited to the job.

Given the safety-critical and highly specialized nature of the work, the MoD concluded that Thales is the only provider capable of delivering the full scope of the requirement.  Photo: Harland Quarrington/MOD, Wikimedia commons.