In a big blow to the Clones who were almost certain of winning the contract, the DTA has instead gone for NS technology for it's big Joint-Force Mine Warfare Squadron (JFMWS) project. This will be a pan-DTA asset dedicated to mine warfare. Twenty-five Pentekonter-Ms will be bought with deliveries expected from 2122, the JFMWS aims to become operational by 2125.
Five of the Pentekonters will be equipped with a customised version of the Pave Orange mine sweeping direction system. NS use Romes for this role but there is no reasons why it can't be used on Pentekonters too. The specification of the ships has yet to be made public but it is expected they will follow the Protector 280M style though with TPM-VLS (as the DTA already have this). The total value of the contract has also not been made public but is said to be around 10 billion zarks.
