VETERAN minehunter HMS Ledbury has been earmarked to test new mine detection kit which will double her fighting capacity.

The Navy is investing £5m in what will effectively be a souped-up Rigid Inflatable Boat crammed with electronic/acoustic wizardry to sweep for mines.

Controlled by the mother ship, the boat will roam into a suspected minefield and send out acoustic and magnetic signatures to trick mines into thinking that a large vessel, not a RIB, is above them.

The new kit, to be built by Atlas-QED in Newport, Wales, is intended to replace the existing Combined Influence System (CIS) which is deployed by Hunts.

CIS is expensive and it’s also tricky to use; it takes a long time to deploy the device in a towed loop – and once in the water, it restricts the movements of the mother ship.

“The new system will effectively take the man out of the minefield,” explained Colin Sainsbury, heading mine warfare technological development at Defence Equipment and Support, the arm of the MOD which provides new kit for the military.

“It will allow the ship to do hunting and sweeping at the same time, effectively doubling the ship’s capability.”

Although Ledbury is set to trial the device in early 2009, and the aim is for all eight Hunts to receive two ‘RIB sweepers’ in due course, the new equipment is designed so it can be used from any parent ship, or even a shore base.