The U.S. Navy is developing a new generation of anti-mine systems
featuring on-board detection, identification and neutralization
capabilities for combat ships. But there is also concern within
the naval scientific community that not enough effort is being devoted
to the development of sea mines.
The new anti-mine systems are being designed to take over many
of the functions that today are performed by dedicated mine-hunting
(MHC) and sweeping (MCM) ships, which are not always available when
a U.S. vessel encounters enemy mines, officials explained.
The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) plans to invest $400 million
to procure new mine countermeasures systems by 2005, these officials
said.
Rear Adm. Malcolm I. Fages, director of the Navy Submarine Warfare
Division (N-77), recently challenged the Navy to “deliver
more than incremental improvements” in future mine countermeasures
capabilities.
At last year’s expeditionary warfare conference in Panama
City, Fla., Fages endorsed the development of a Long-term Mine Reconnaissance
System (LMRS), an unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) that can be deployed
and retrieved by Los Angeles-class attack submarines.
Such a system could increase safety for the Navy’s Explosive
Ordnance Demolition (EOD) divers, Fages said. The LMRS, he said,
represents a significant breakthrough in personnel-protection systems.
Navy Capt. John Lambert, UUV program manager, explained the concept
during a recent interview. The idea, he said, is to have at least
one submarine arrive early on the scene, before an amphibious assault
takes place.
“The objective is to remain clandestine, and not let an enemy
know that the mine field has been discovered,” he said. “[With
this information], a task force then could make adjustments and
travel a different route to achieve [the same] land objectives.”
The LMRS would not neutralize the mines, Lambert explained. “The
first time that you destroy a mine, the enemy will know that you
are there,” he continued. “They will know that you have
found their minefield, and they could take appropriate action.”
Instead, the LMRS would relay information about the minefield that
it scouted to surface ships outfitted with organic anti-mine systems.
Then, for instance, the AN/WLD-1 Remote Minehunting System (RMS),
a remote-controlled detection and navigation system, could be deployed
from an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, “to locate and identify
the minefield,” Lambert said. “Then, [actual] clearing
operations, using airborne assets, could begin.”
The Navy intends to deploy the first RMS aboard the USS Pinckney
(DDG-91) in 2005. The Pinckney, which will be the 41st Arleigh Burke
destroyer to join the fleet, is to be named in honor of World War
II-era sailor William Pinckney, an African-American cook’s
assistant, who won the Navy Cross for courage under fire during
the Santa Cruz Islands campaign.
With submarines serving in a reconnaissance role, it would be possible
to go in “two or three months ahead of time,” Lambert
said. “A submarine could be left on station for reconnaissance
purposes while mine-clearing continues. This would allow for identification
of any re-deployed mines, in the event that should occur.”
One problem with using surface ships to hunt and sweep mines ahead
of time is that their presence would “tip your hand to the
enemy,” Lambert said. “This act, in itself, would commit
your amphibious forces.”
The LMRS may be closer to the acquisition and deployment stage
than the other organic systems, Lambert said. Program officials
estimate that the acquisition process will start in 2004.
The LMRS comes equipped with high-density, long-duration batteries
that should enable the UUV “to do what we need it to do, without
constantly swapping-out batteries,” he said. Baseline requirements
for the LMRS call for rechargeable batteries for vehicles used in
testing and training exercises, Lambert indicated. “If need
be, we could take these with us and use them,” he added.
Airborne Assets
Current plans call for additional, organic mine-defense systems
to appear in the fleet beginning about 2005, officials estimated.
Early this year, the Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS)—which
is designed to locate, detect and classify floating and near-surface,
moored mines—may reach the engineering and manufacturing development
(EMD) program stage, program officials stated.
A critical design review is planned for the AN/AQS-20 Airborne
Mine Hunting Sonar, a helicopter-towed, high-speed reconnaissance
mine hunter that can detect, locate and classify unburied, bottom,
close-tethered and moored mines in both shallow and deep water.
This system is being designed first for the MH-53E helicopter, the
current Airborne Mine Countermeasures (AMCM) workhorse.
Another version of the same system, the AN/AQS-20X, is being developed
simultaneously for the CH-60S helicopter that eventually will replace
the MH-53Es.
Additionally, the AQS/20 will share an integrated sensing system
with the RMS, which subsequently will be linked with an undersea-warfare
platform on an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, explained Douglas
Gaarde, deputy program manager for surface mine-warfare systems.
“The more integrated commonality that you have between your
different systems, the better,” he said.
The Organic Airborne and Surface Influence Sweep (OASIS), a combination
high- speed, magnetic, acoustic-influence sweep system, also will
be reviewed early this year. A Rapid Airborne Mine Clearance System
(RAMICS), which uses a Gatling gun for mine-clearing operations,
is being prepared for risk-reduction tests, officials said.
To save money, said officials, RAMICS developers employed 20mm,
laser-controlled ammunition, which the Navy already had on hand,
to conduct its capability test. Once this rapid, mine-clearing platform
is deployed, it will feature 30mm, laser-guided shells, which are
still in development.
This laser round is a so-called “super-cavitating”
projectile that can travel a distance through water and still have
enough power to penetrate the outer casing of a mine and destroy
it. The laser-guidance system not only targets a mine, but also
provides aiming coordinates for the gun’s fire-control system.
OASIS, designed for use in shallow water situations, is a money
saver, because “it can be used by both air and surface forces,”
Gaarde said. “OASIS is especially good for coastal mine hunting.”
Airborne units will continue to support anti-mine legacy units
through the first decade of the 21st century, said Henry Sheetz,
acting program manager for airborne mine defense. “By then,
some of the 53Es will start to be grounded, because they will reach
the end of their service life,” he explained.
The Navy is shifting to the CH-60S, because it is a smaller, less
expensive aircraft, with a more advanced electronics suite, and
it can work off of smaller surface ships, said Sheetz. “The
60S doesn’t need a big deck ship like the MCS [USS Inchon
mine countermeasures support ship] to operate,” he added.
Anytime there is a change in weapons platforms, there is a transition
period that has to be taken into account, officials explained. New
systems also mean new tactics and training programs to get sailors
up to speed.
While the timing of transitions is critically important, it is
also difficult to coordinate, because of differences in research
and development schedules for various programs, officials continued.
This is especially true when trying to mix new systems with the
old systems, they noted.
Coordinating the research and development activity of organic anti-mine
systems has reduced duplication, officials explained.
The challenge, officials said, is to find the right mix between
new organic systems and existing assets, such as the current fleet
of coastal mine hunters, sweepers, MH-53E helicopters and the Inchon.
Gaarde said that dedicated forces always would be needed in one
form or another. “Even though the size of the fleet likely
will be reduced, it is important to understand the definite purpose
for which each system was originally created. There will always
be a requirement for dedicated mine sweepers and hunters.”
There has been a concerted effort, in some quarters of the mine
defense community, to protect dedicated forces, Gaarde observed.
On the other hand, he noted: “There were some [other] people
who said, ‘Look at what we can save by doing away with dedicated
forces.’”
The final decision about when and how much to reduce the current
dedicated mine defense fleet will be made by the Department of the
Navy’s top leadership. Meanwhile, Gaarde insisted that he
has not seen any projected ship reduction plans. “Whatever
you’ve got, you will use it until it crumbles to the ground.”
Modernization of the legacy fleet is still taking place, officials
said. As organic anti-mine systems mature, they will be placed on
ships to lessen reliance on dedicated mine defenses.
“Hunt when you can, sweep when you must,” Gaarde remarked.
Minehunting is a slow, tedious process, he explained. Even though
there is a high clearance rate, a mine hunter must slow down.
After mines have been located and identified, “it takes 45
minutes to deploy a mine-neutralization vehicle,” he explained.
It takes time to neutralize the mines and then retrieve the vehicle.
“Three-knots is your speed while you’re moving,”
Gaarde said. Often, he added, you are not moving. “Once mines
have been located, the ship has to be maneuvered into position [to
perform its tasks].”
Sweeping, on the other hand, is a more “brute-force approach,”
he noted. This is where helicopters come into play. “They
are much faster than ships and are effective against both acoustic
and magnetic mines, which then are actuated.”
Newer mines have countermeasure-discrimination capability, Gaarde
said. “For instance, they can tell when they are being swept,
as opposed to sensing the signature of an actual ship.”
Sometimes, newer models are equipped with counters that allow as
many as 10 passes before they explode, Gaarde explained.
The mine warfare area where there is practically no current development
is in laying sea mines, officials agreed. “Sea-mining capability
is being allowed to atrophy,” said Jim Thomsen, a civilian
who heads the Coastal Warfare Department at the Navy Coastal Systems
Station in Panama City, Fla.
“If funding doesn’t come up in the next couple of years,
you may as well turn the lights out on the whole thing. The greatest
navy in the world isn’t putting much money or brainpower into
[actual] mining.”