Overview
- Experts at Kiel’s Munimar center are turning 2024 pilot lessons into a large-scale recovery plan to tackle an estimated 1.6 million tonnes of sunken ordnance.
- A federal €100 million starter program financed pilots and platform tenders, with contract awards due in June and bids from TKMS, Rheinmetall and specialist robotics firms.
- The plan envisions an automated floating platform that neutralizes bombs at sea, which could begin operating in 2028 if regulators approve the project.
- Bottlenecks in disposal capacity left some recovered weapons in wet seabed storage, as researchers also detect toxic residues from corroding shells in fish and mussels.
- Large field operations could start around 2030 with Lübeck Bay targeted for clearance by 2040, while the choice of Rostock for a new federal center has drawn protests from Schleswig-Holstein.