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00:10There are 4 hours left until the floating ceremony and there's a lot of hustle and bustle near the dock.
00:17The red carpet is rolled out, chairs are set up for the guests,
00:23The final adjustments are being made to the banners. Everything has to be ready and properly decorated.
00:30The timing is perfect. Europe's first drone carrier ship is already afloat and belongs to the Portuguese Navy.
01:20Antonio Mourinha
01:21I am a captain in the Portuguese Navy and the designated commander for the future ship of the
01:26Portuguese Republic of Dom João II,
01:29which is a special ship of the Portuguese Navy and I have the privilege and honor of having been assigned to
01:37to be the first commander of this naval platform.
01:40Less than two years have passed since the first sheet was cut.
01:44In record time, the Dom João II ship took shape and became known as a drone carrier.
01:53It can operate unmanned aerial systems, it can operate unmanned surface systems,
01:59It can operate and design underwater unmanned systems, and it can also design and operate land-based unmanned systems.
02:05leave the ship.
02:06But the latest pride of the Portuguese Navy will be much more than just a drone carrier.
02:14It will be equipped with modular systems mounted in containers that allow for rapid adaptation to each mission.
02:22Defending national sovereignty and supporting civil protection operations will be two of the main strengths of the Dom.
02:31John II.
02:32It has the capacity to transport vehicles and, in the case of assisting affected populations, to have the capacity to...
02:39ambulances came right up inside the ship
02:41...and then the ship would act as a vessel with some hospital capabilities to assist affected populations.
02:49Therefore, this is the first ship to house all this capacity in a single vessel.
02:54The ship is being replaced at the Lisbon base.
02:57A week later the ship sets sail for a mission in Africa with a different configuration.
03:01Change ships again.
03:03A week later, the ship sets sail with a different configuration for an emergency in the Azores.
03:08He changes ships and then sets sail a week later for a more robust, military, anti-somerin mission.
03:16or to go and operate in the Baltic or the Mediterranean.
03:21Admiral Gouveia Emelo was the mastermind behind the idea of building a multi-purpose drone carrier ship from scratch.
03:29It was during his time in charge of innovation at the General Staff of the Armed Forces that he gave impetus to the concept.
03:36I thought there had to be a ship that could transform this reality, the reality of robotic warfare, and be a
03:46base for this robotic war at sea.
03:47I designed a concept, and we negotiated that concept at the General Staff of the Armed Forces.
03:54Then, however, I'll go to the Navy to discuss the concept with the Navy engineers and specialists from...
04:00Navy
04:00And we wrote the rest of the story.
04:04The project is of military inspiration, but the Dom João II is primarily intended for scientific missions.
04:12The ship is prepared to investigate much of what lies beneath the water.
04:40This is a ship that can be equipped with a huge array of sensors.
04:46which allows the collection of data about the sea, about the sea surface, and which can later be used in research.
04:54scientific.
04:56It also allows for the collection of samples from the seabed, depending, once again, on the equipment that is placed on board.
05:04Then there is another type of scientific research mission, in which it is possible to send teams of scientists on board to come...
05:19to do your studies here on board.
05:21The ship's interior is yet to be equipped, but in some compartments, it's already possible to get an idea of what it will look like.
05:29They will be.
05:29We are currently here in the soldiers' mess hall, where they will have their meals.
05:34We also have the equipment washing room here, and back here we have the ship's galley, where they go...
05:40Prepare all meals here on board.
05:43Francisco Gomes is part of the Navy team that moved, lock, stock, and barrel, to the... two years ago.
05:49Romania
05:49and that, on a daily basis, monitors the progress of the project.
05:54We provide ongoing monitoring to ensure the quality of our ship and also to ensure that delivery is on schedule.
06:00of the ship.
06:01In these daily inspections that we carry out, we go through the various systems, the various compartments of the ship,
06:07But, in addition to these inspections we have at the shipyard, we also still have some meetings with the engineering department, which
06:15It is located in Poland.
06:17A job that, after so many months, inevitably created a close relationship between the ship and the person who made it.
06:26We always have an affection for the ship, that is, although we are talking about the ship, it's almost as if it were...
06:34He's also like a son to us.
06:37Because we witnessed the birth of paper, we saw its transformation into steel, and today we can see its final form.
06:43and see it floating.
06:44It's as if we're also giving life.
06:47And there have always been some disagreements here, as is normal. Lying to you, if I said it went well, that would be fine.
06:52We will meet the established deadlines. As we say here, there is no more time or money.
06:58The ship's design was created in collaboration with the Hydrographic Institute of the Navy.
07:04King John II will play an important role in the project to expand the Portuguese Continental Shelf.
07:11This ship is a sort of toolbox. The tools change, but the toolbox remains the same.
07:19same.
07:19This ship is a lever for these tools. And what tools are these? They are all kinds of drones.
07:26Therefore, if in the future there are different drones that do different things, the ship will immediately be able to do those different things because it supports...
07:32These drones are at sea.
07:34There are more drone-carrying ships in the world, but they are merely adaptations. Like the Dom João II, there is nothing else.
07:42It's the first to be built from scratch for that purpose. A ship that's a game-changer and...
07:50A huge added value for the Navy and for the country.
07:53We are a small country, but we have a gigantic sea to protect. How are we going to protect that sea?
08:00With traditional ideas. And if we needed a lot of people, a lot of money, a lot of ships.
08:06Therefore, we have to use non-traditional ideas, asymmetrical ideas.
08:10And robotization will replace many people, allowing for the monitoring of much larger areas at a much lower cost.
08:21From the outside, it may seem that the ship is almost ready, but in reality there are still at least nine [pieces of work to be done].
08:28Months of work here in Galati, Romania.
08:32Sea trials will follow in the Black Sea, and the ship will only be delivered to [the ship] around April of next year.
08:39Portuguese State, in Lisbon.
08:42At 7,000 tons, the D. João II is the largest ship in the Portuguese Navy in terms of displacement.
08:50weight.
08:51It measures 107 meters in length and has the capacity to carry 90 personnel, including crew and scientists.
08:59But in rescue operations, it can accommodate up to 200 people.
09:04It has a runway for operating aerial drones and a helipad for heavy helicopters.
09:10It has autonomy for up to 45 days, cost 132 million euros, largely financed by the Recovery and Resilience Plan.
09:20of the European Union.
09:22And it is because of the contract with Brussels that the ship cannot be deployed on combat missions.
09:29Therefore, neither ships nor drones will be armed.
09:32We will have a ship designed for scientific research, but the basic structure, architecture and facilities and
09:42the command and control infrastructure
09:44This will allow us to learn, not to militarize the ship, but to learn from the ship so that we can make decisions.
09:54Regarding the acquisition of ships of that type, but in a military version.
10:01The Dom João II monument is being built by a Nirish company.
10:06Damen won an international tender in which no Portuguese shipyard participated.
10:11The concept was entirely developed by the Navy, but the project was worked on in partnership with the shipyards.
10:19Industrial property rights are shared between the State and the shipbuilding company.
10:25But the patent was not registered.
10:28The funding for the PRR was the amount we know, 132 million euros.
10:35And to register the patent, and for it to be developed and registered, the patent part would be more honorable.
10:44Therefore, this was, is a possible ship with 132 million.
10:48Without a patent, the manufacturer is free to try to sell the same model to the navies of other countries.
10:55And judging by the number of contacts already made, there is no shortage of interest.
11:15I was approached by many of my comrades, heads of other navies,
11:22They were astonished that we had dared to do something they had never even considered.
11:28I said, look, because we're small, we're more agile, and instead of worrying about things that are too big,
11:36We found an asymmetrical way to bring capacity to the sea.
11:40Having been the first, it is now a ship whose concept is desired by the navies of many other countries.
11:50However, these navies start from the observation of a reality and then move on to the search.
11:56Portugal created the concept through its navy before this evidence emerged, and I think that's remarkable.
12:02As soon as construction of the ship began, it became necessary to consider the drones that the Dom João II will carry.
12:09The navy had the choice of either buying them or making them.
12:13The decision was made to build some of these drones exactly to the specifications that were needed.
12:19While the ship is being built in Romania, it is here at the Lisbon naval base that it is being constructed.
12:25to be developed is the so-called Sea Tractor.
12:28and that will be one of the main components of Dom João II.
12:33And here is the Sea Tractor, always on the surface this drone captures everything that happens at sea.
12:40whether on the surface of the water, in the depths, or in the air.
12:46"The Sea Tractor" is a very specific name, with very little marketing.
12:51but that precisely represents this great strength of the vehicle.
12:54It is a work vehicle, low-speed, with long endurance.
12:59that we need to keep permanently sailing at sea
13:04in order to extract all this scientific and hydro-oceanographic information.
13:10Marco Guimarães is a frigate captain and director of the Unmanned Vehicle Experimentation Unit.
13:18This is where, every day, a team of Navy engineers works.
13:22Works in the creation and development of drones.
13:26When we started our activities in 2017,
13:29our national industry and even the global industry in the field of unmanned vehicles
13:35It was still in an embryonic stage.
13:37Hence the need for the Navy to have a team that could react quickly.
13:42and to do your own development.
13:44Therefore, we at Célula do ideation, development, construction,
13:50Testing and operational experimentation of unmanned vehicles.
13:53Therefore, we cover this entire development chain.
13:56Also made in Portugal and not too far from the Alfeite base,
14:00It is the communications system of the ship Dom João II.
14:04The entire project was conceived by EID, which has been working with the Navy for decades.
14:10A project full of challenges.
14:14We're going to have a lot of things happening on that ship simultaneously.
14:19Therefore, we have a large flight deck, where helicopters may be landing.
14:22to lift helicopters.
14:22We need people controlling the deck, several people simultaneously.
14:28But then, at the same time, we also have other vehicles that are being launched.
14:33We also have sensors that are being recalled.
14:36We have a platform that is completely disruptive to what the past was.
14:40How does our system fit into this platform?
14:42And that is still proving to be a major challenge.
14:46In the Navy, technology is not only a necessity, but also something that is part of its DNA.
14:53Dom João II is one of the main examples of this approach, but he is not the only one.
14:58The third series of ocean patrol vessels has already undergone an evolution to make them militarily capable.
15:06particularly in the area of mine warfare, but also looking towards new technologies.
15:12The new generation of frigates will benefit from systems that are far more advanced than those we currently have.
15:22The Dom João II symbolizes a new era of technological innovation in the Navy and strategic capability for the country.
15:31This investment is complemented by the purchase of another 12 ships.
15:35By 2030, Portugal will receive new frigates and replenishment ships.
15:42Portugal is a maritime country.
15:44Most of our territory is sea.
15:46And, obviously, a country with our characteristics has to invest in assets, equipment, infrastructure, the military,
15:57which ensure that this sovereignty is exercised.
16:01The Dom João II ship will go down in history for its innovative character and the speed with which it went from...
16:09Paper for water.
16:10In November 2023, the contract with the shipyards was signed.
16:15The following year, construction began in Romania.
16:19In April 2026, the Dom João II touched the water for the first time and floated.
16:25In 2027, the ship that puts the Navy on the crest of the wave arrives in Portugal.
16:33It's a totally revolutionary ship, unique in the world, one of a kind, and it's bound to arouse immense curiosity.
16:42not only in the scientific community, but also in the military community, because it is a ship that was designed from scratch.
16:47We are not building a conventional ship that we already have perfect control over and that is in a normal production cycle and
16:57of maturity.
16:58That is, a whole new world, and even in that there was great merit, starting with embracing the challenge.
17:05but then in its ability to be put into practice.
17:27Caption by Adriana Zanotto
17:29Caption by Adriana Zanotto
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