Articles | National Defense Magazine

Navy Mine Warfare Teeters Between Present, Future

Sea-based mine warfare is in a state of flux, suspended between decades-old, manned technologies and a long-promised future of multi-domain unmanned drones capable of finding and neutralizing enemy mines or covertly mining in deep and shallow waters.

JUST IN: Allied Naval Leaders Warn of New Age of Mine Warfare

Sweden — Potential adversaries have taken note of how effective improvised explosive devices were in Iraq and Afghanistan and may try the same tactics at sea, naval leaders said May 13. “Mines are a type of asymmetric warfare. They are cheap. They are easy to place. They’re a nuisance and they are out there,” Frank DiGiovanni, deputy director of the expeditionary warfare division of the U.S. Navy, said at the Undersea Defense Technology symposium in Stockholm, Sweden. And they are not just a military problem as they can threaten commercial sea traffic and impede free trade, he added.

Navy Mine Hunting System Gets Long-Range Data Link

Tactical radios originally designed for land forces will help connect Navy warships with a new mine-hunting system.

U.S. Services Test Aussie-Built Catamaran

With her twin aluminum hulls and needle nose, the Joint Venture high-speed vessel (HSV-X1) cast a strange silhouette, as she shoved off from the wharf at North Carolina’s Morehead City one early morning this winter and sped out to participate in exercises in the Atlantic Ocean.

Shallow-Water Mines Remain ‘Achilles’ Heel’ of U.S. Navy

After nearly a decade of research and at least $70 million spent on engineering and testing, the Navy and Marine Corps are nowhere close to having suitable equipment to detect and breach minefields in shallow waters, close to the beach.

Navy to ‘Mainstream’ Mine Warfare Within Five Years

The U.S. Navy is moving forward with plans to deploy modern anti-mine systems aboard ships and helicopters.

Underwater Mine-Hunting Robots to Replace Humans, Dolphins

Remote-controlled underwater vehicles equipped with advanced sensors could help Navy submarines explore waterways that would be too shallow for most boats to operate in, officials said.

Navy Mine Warfare Blueprint Proffers ‘Innovator’s Dilemma’

The U.S. Navy’s current efforts to develop and deploy anti-mine systems have all the ingredients of the classic "innovator’s dilemma," said Rear Adm. Malcolm I. Fages, director of submarine warfare.