The first DDS minesweeping patrol has been proclaimed as a success by fleet officials as the small fleet of ships returned to Proxima Centauri. The fleet included a command Isometric (with Pave Yellow) SS Oligocene, 2 Pentekonter-M minesweepers and 2 HCS Derinny class minesweepers (though one of the Derinnys had to abort the mission because of a reactor fault).
The HCS minesweepers have now returned to the HCS, they accompanied the mission to provide training and back-up but the DDS now feel confident enough to carry on on their own. Experience on the mission has bought up a number of issues with the Pave Yellow communications equipment and SPECNES minesweeping suite though none of the issues are said to be show stoppers.
The DDS, who hold a licence for the HCS designed SPECNES, have developed a passive mode for the mine detection module which allows for cloaked minesweeping operations. This uses data from a standard DDS sensor suite in passive mode on the Pave Yellow equipped Isometric which is then sent to the minesweepers via datalinks. The user interface has also been modified to make it more "human friendly".
A second minesweeping mission is about to depart Solaris to clear Utrek mines left near Loeuss. The fleet will be led by F116 Cryptozoic and include 2 Pentekonter-Ms and a support Provider.
