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Service Experts Eye ‘Leap Ahead’ in Mine Warfare Capabilities
By OTTO KREISHERS
Special Correspondent
Sea
Power
September 2004
After years of struggle against funding shortfalls and major technical challenges, mine warfare officials believe they are on a firm path to fielding the capabilities the
U.S. Navy and
Marine Corps need to overcome one of the major obstacles to expeditionary operations.
The Navy will conduct a trial of two of its long-sought capabilities against sea mines during the deployment of an expeditionary strike group next year, said Rear Adm. (select) William E. Landay, program executive officer for littoral and mine warfare at Naval Sea Systems Command.
On shore, the Marines are fielding an array of new mine-clearing equipment for their infantry units and combat engineers, said Alan Canfield, the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory liaison at Naval Coastal Systems Command, Panama City, Fla.
And the naval services are developing other “leap-ahead” systems to deal with sea and land mines, which could be operational in this decade, the officials said.
Landay credits Marine Maj. Gen. James R. Battaglini, director of expeditionary warfare, for taking the lead in crafting “a mine warfare vision and a road map that’s going to get us from where we are today … to where we want to go in the future.”
The capability they are seeking, Landay said, “is modular; it is unmanned; it is capable of being employed off multiple platforms;” and it will be effective against all of the mine threats “from deep water all the way through the beach.”
Although the Navy had been considered a reluctant warrior in the mine countermeasures (MCM) fight, history demonstrates the need for effective mine warfare programs, particularly when operating in the littoral.
Iraqi mines in the Persian Gulf damaged the cruiser Princeton and the assault amphibious ship Tripoli in 1991 and nearly sank the frigate Samuel B. Roberts in 1988. In total, 14 Navy ships have been damaged or sunk by mines since
World War II.
Naval intelligence estimates that 50 countries have sea mines and Rear Adm. Mark Edwards, director of surface warfare, recently listed mines among the top anti-access threats to the Navy.
Although the Navy has improved its MCM capabilities in the last two decades, all of those assets are in the dedicated mine warfare force — ships, helicopters, divers and marine mammals “that really don’t do anything but mine warfare,” Landay noted.
The Navy now is moving on a path toward “the vision” of having an organic capability within the battle groups, he said.
The two “overriding goals” Battaglini has established are: “Always reduce the timeline — how long it takes to do the mine warfare mission — and get people out of the minefield,” Landay said. “In the organic systems, that’s very much what we are doing.”
Landay’s office is working on six major programs, plus some other concepts, to fulfill that organic vision. The top six are:
The Remote Minehunting System (RMS), an
unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), by Lockheed Martin, that will be deployed by surface ships to search for mines.
The AQS-20 advanced minehunting sonar, from Raytheon, which will operate from the RMS and MH-60S helicopters.
The Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS), a helicopter-deployed system, by Northrop Grumman, that promises a much faster means to find moored sea mines.
The Airborne Mine Neutralization System (AMNS), a helicopter-towed weapon, by Raytheon, that locates and destroys moored mines.
The Rapid Airborne Mine Clearance System (RAMICS), a sophisticated laser-aimed gun, from Northrop, to defeat mines on or near the surface.
The Organic Airborne and Surface Influence Sweep (OASIS), a towed device, by EDO Corp., that imitates a ship’s magnetic and acoustic signals to set off influence mines.
All of those systems “are designed to give us more capability, to be able to be employed from the battle group, from the dedicated assets,” without putting people in the minefield, Landay said.
Landay expects initial production decisions on RMS, AQS-20 and ALMDS in fiscal 2005, on OASIS and AMNS in 2006 and on RAMICS in 2007.
To support those developments, the Navy asked for $4 billion in the fiscal 2005 budget and Landay expects “that much or more” for 2006.
The Navy plans to conduct the “first organic mine systems deployment” with the Nassau Expeditionary Strike Group at the end of fiscal 2005, putting an RMS and two AQS-20s on the high-speed vessel Swift as a surrogate Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), he said.
The Navy intends to deploy most of its new MCM systems from the Sikorsky-built MH-60S helicopters and on the proposed LCS. While new helicopters are flowing into fleet squadrons, the planned 2008 introduction of the LCS fleet is in doubt.
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