deck until their removal in 2014. The machine guns are mounted on either side at the front of the bridge deck. The 40 mm guns were used as monuments after being dismounted. In October 2006, Maritime Command experimented with mounting a remote controlled heavy machine gun station, the OTO Melara 12.7 mm RCHMG, in place of the 40 mm Bofors cannon aboard . The Nanuk .50 calibre RCWS from Rheinmetall was trialled as a replacement aboard in 2018. All twelve ships have degaussing coil arrays fitted, but only the first three ships have the control system, with it situated between the two funnels. Modular payload On the aft sweep deck, there are three positions that can receive a variety of mission payloads in the form of ISO containers. The Royal Canadian Navy has a limited number of each mission payload; Two Indal Technologies AN/SLQ-38 deep mechanical minesweeping systems Four MDA Ltd. AN/SQS-511 heavyweight high-definition Route Survey System One ISE Ltd. Trailblazer bottom object inspection vehicle One ISE Ltd. HYSUB 50 deep seabed intervention system Fullerton and Sherwood Ltd. six-man, two-compartment containerised diving systems MDA Ltd. Interim Remote Minehunting and Disposal System control van Furthermore, the vessels have additional systems not in an ISO container format that can be fitted, including; Two L3/Klein K 5500 high definition side scan sonars Four L3/Klein K 3000 dual frequency side scan sonars Two Deep Ocean Engineering Inc. Phantom 4 remotely operated vehicles (ROV) The modules are split between the naval bases on each coast. The Trailblazer module is based at CFB Esquimalt, there are two route survey modules per coast, and the two minesweeping modules are located at CFB Halifax. In November 2009, the Boeing Insitu ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle was successfully trialled aboard a Kingston-class vessel. Modernisation The Royal Canadian Navy discarded a $100-million mid-life refit plan for the twelve vessels in this class. It was intended to retain the "mid-lifed" vessels through 2045–2055. While the RCN concluded that the money would be better spent in acquiring a new platform, the Liberal Government's 2017 defence policy statement, Strong, Secure and Engaged, did not reference replacing these vessels. The RCN review listed low speed and small size as reasons for the MCDV being inadequate for patrol duties (both are factors of the original specification). Notwithstanding the success of the ships in their deployment, critics suggest that patrol and training were tacked onto the mine-countermeasures