DÜSSELDORF, Germany (BulgarianMilitary.com), June 25, 2018, Author: Galina Zdravkova, Photo credit: Rheinmetall

On 20th June 2018 Rheinmetall announced that the company has received a follow-on MASS contract from the Canadian Forces for the expansion of the MASS (Multi Ammunition Softkill System) countermeasure systems installed on the Canadian Halifax-class frigates. Rheinmetall’s Fronau plant in Bavaria and Rheinmetall Canada Inc. in Québec will partner under this four-year contract (from 2018 to 2022), the value of which is about €12 million, learded BulgarianMilitary.com

The MASS is an automated decoy system, which protects surface combatants from advanced anti-ship missiles.

The upgrade under that newly awarded contract involves transformation of the current twin-launcher systems of the Canada’s Halifax-class frigates into triple launcher systems. The assembly and commissioning of the subassemblies and individual parts for the MASS systems, before being installed onboard, will take place at Rheinmetall Canada.

The preceding contract for equipment of 12 Halifax-class frigates with MASS was awarded by Canada to Rheinmetall in 2009. The Canadian Forces then ordered the accompanying Omnitrap and MASS-Dueras decoy ammunition from Rheinmetall as well.

The decoy-launching system MASS and the accompanying special ammunition is developed at Rheinmetall’s Fronau plant. Totally 224 MASS launchers have been deployed by now by the navies of 13 nations for protecting their ships from radar-guided anti-ship missiles, infrared threats and rocket-propelled grenades in asymmetric threat scenarios.

The system detects quickly a missile threat, radar and laser target markers, as well as a laser rangefinder measurement, after which it takes the necessary measures to impede it. All this is done automatically. The countermeasures of the system involve generation of a decoy target, which is interpreted by the incoming missile as a higher-value asset and thus the projectile veers off its course. These countermeasures are initiated by the MASS autonomously by taking into consideration the wind, the ship’s navigation data and the information concerning the nature of the threat.

BulgarianMilitary.com