The Indian Navy has announced interest in procuring 12 sets of Mine Counter Measure (MCM) suites from global vendors for "mine hunting/channel conditioning, mine neutralisation, mine sweeping, route survey and sea bottom mapping. The MCM suites will be fitted on the 12 mine counter-measure vessels (MCMVs) that Goa Shipyard Ltd will build in collaboration with a foreign partner as part of a decision taken in February. The intended use will be 34 mine hunting utilising equipment capable of mine detection and mine classification using Hull Mounted Sonar and Side Scan Sonars (SSS), Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUVs) such as Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV)/ Propelled Variable Depth Sonar (PVDS) and Mine Identification & Disposal Vehicles (MIDVs), mine sweeping utilising equipment capable of sweeping/ neutralising ground, influence and moored influence mines, MCM command and control system to plan, execute and evaluate MCM and survey missions and side scan sonar operations for Mine Detection, Route Survey, Channel Conditioning and Bottom Mapping requirements. The Indian Navy's minehunter modernisation programme got a fillip with the deal for 12 vessels being cleared in February by the Defence Acquisition Council.