City-class mine countermeasures vessel

In early 2018, the Belgian and Dutch Navies signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the joint construction and financing of the ships. A list of requirements was drawn up for the new vessels. Contenders in the race were: • The Franco-Belgium consortium made up of French shipbuilders STX France and Socarenam, and Thales together with Belgium's EDR are bidding for the 12 new MCMVs. Their plan includes the construction of MCMVs named Sea Naval Solutions and a multi-role frigate named Deviceseas, which will serve as mothership to the MCMVs. All ships will have a strong focus on autonomous systems operations. • France's Naval Group and established Belgian subsidiary Naval & Robotics and bid for the program. • Imtech Belgium and Damen Group bid for the program. There are a total of around 80 unmanned systems aboard the vessels. ==Construction==

A first steel cutting ceremony for the first-in-class ship for the Belgian Navy was held on 19 July 2021, with the keel being laid on 30 November 2021. Delivery of the first ship to the Belgian Navy is anticipated in 2024 and to the Royal Netherlands Navy in 2025. The first ship for the Royal Netherlands Navy started on the 4 March 2022, with a steel cutting ceremony. The keel was laid on 14 June 2022. On 8 May 2024, the Belgian Ministry of Defence announced that contractor Belgium Naval & Robotics requested a delay to the construction of the first four vessels citing unforeseen circumstances. The delay caused the first vessel, , to be delivered eight months later than initially planned, pushing her commissioning back to 2025. The second vessel, Vlissingen, is to be five-to-six months delayed, with Tournai and Scheveningen also seeing delays of two and one month(s) respectively. In July 2024, it was reported that the first mine countermeasures vessel, Oostende, had begun its sea trials. In March 2026 it was reported that the first mine countermeasures toolbox had been delivered to Belgium and the Netherlands. == Equipment ==

Mission bay The deployment system for the RHIB and the unmanned surface vessel was developed by Naval Group. The mission bay is to be equipped with the "Launch and recovery system"(LARS). Drones Surface vessels The INSPECTOR 125 unmanned surface vessel (USV) was ordered to be a centerpiece of the system. It has a low signature (magnetic and acoustic) which would prevent a mine from being triggered. The vessel is also designed to be unsinkable. The USV can be deployed from the mission bay by a handling system. ==Operators==

Current operators ; (1 + 5 on order) : Belgium gave the green-light to start the procurement on 26 January 2018 and approved a budget of 1.1 billion euros for the six Belgian MCMVs. Besides the Tripartite-class minehunters, the ships will also replace the Belgian logistical support ship . Future operators ; (6) : Contract for the MCMVs in collaboration with Belgium in 2019, critical design review passed in June 2020. Potential operators ; : At Euronaval 2022, a partnership was signed between the Belgian, Dutch and French navies to enhance cooperation between them. As a result, the French Navy intends to order six vessels based on the City-class design to fulfill the role of BDGM motherships planned in the ongoing SLAM-F mine warfare program. ; : A variant of the City-class as a multi-purpose offshore patrol vessel was offered by Naval Group to the Lithuanian Navy in December 2025. ==Ships in class==