You do n’t joke about mining important maritime craft routes — Iran did andnearly started WWIII . And while America ’s fleet ofMH-53E Sea DragonsandAvenger - class mine countermeasure shipsare still quite in force , they ’re beget really , really old . Both platforms enter service in the mid-1980s and are quickly go up their retirement dates . Here ’s what the Navy has in entrepot for its future countermining operation .
https://gizmodo.com/the-navys-largest-chopper-is-an-aerial-mine-hunter-510100707
The primary platform of the new countermining organization is the Littoral Combat Ship ( LCS ) , a close - shoring multi - mission ship designed to hunt mines , track subs , and engage foe on the surface . Ignoring the fact that it presently hasa bit of an issue with its armed combat readiness(read : it ca n’t actually get hold mine ) , the LCS is a capable legion for the menagerie of modular countermining technologies Navy Research has dreamed up as part of the Mine Counter - Measures ( MCM ) Mission Package . Here are its other components .
https://gizmodo.com/the-navys-super-expensive-new-boat-gets-a-big-fat-f-5909634
The Unmanned Influence Sweep System (UISS)
“ We have an Unmanned Influence Sweep System ( UISS ) which consist of a gravy boat with no masses on it with a magnetic and acoustical gadget that it tows , called the Unmanned Surface Sweep System ( US3 ) . Together , this will allow us to replace the MH-53 chopper that we use today in the bequest fleet to do these kinds of mine sweep , ” Capt . John Ailes , Mission Modules curriculum handler of the Littoral Combat Ship ( LCS ) political platform toldDefense technical school .
Rather than transmit the mine - susceptible LCS out into the middle of a distrust minefield , the fighting ship will instead deploy the UISS to set off any mines present . The UISS fulfill this by beam the acoustical theme song of much larger ships , which sets off the mines , using the US3 . “ This would be the first unmanned sweep scheme [ for a ] airfoil capability , ” Navy Capt . Duane Ashton toldWired .
The Bluefin Robotics Knifefish
But before the UISS can be deployed , however , bluejacket need to know what they ’re up against , both in footing of quantity and type of mines . That job fall to the Knifefish , a small ROV prototype designed to attempt out and identify subsurface mines , and the Remove Multi - Mission Vehicle ( RMMV ) , a diesel - powered semi - submergible ROV equip with a knock-down asdic organisation . The Knifefish is an oblong - work , high speed Unmanned Undersea Vehicle ( UUV ) that acts as the Hunter to the UISS ’s Killer , allow a coordinate set for the control surface drone to investiate . The Navy has order a total of 52 UISS drones , one for each new LCS .
The Remove Multi-Mission Vehicle (RMM)
The RMMV , on the other hand is a $ 12 million . 23 foot - long , 14,500 - pound semi - submersible ROV — in that the snorkel that delivers air to its diesel engine and antenna mast sticks out of the water — that tows theAN / AQS-20A minehunting sonar systemand can can manoeuvre outside the line - of - wad of its LCS mothership . Two RMMVs can be deploy simultaneously from the LCS for specially treacherous water and can either be remotely piloted or follow an automate search communications protocol .
The AN / AQS-20 “ allows us to take the ships out of the mine field of operation . The sonar can be lowered depending upon what depth you are searching , ” Ailes explained . “ Today when you want to go into a mine field , you take a wooden ship in there with people on there . Now , we can place these remote-controlled systems into the mine field . ”
“ Ping by ping you could see things . ” Ailes continued . “ You put the acoustic vigour in and it come back and you see a response in clip and in amplitude – relative to target strength or a measure of the ill-tempered - sectional vitality . unlike objects have dissimilar responses . We teach the operators what a mine looks like and it takes some training , ”
The RMMV is in late stage development and the UISS and Knifefish are still being tested but hand that theLCS has a hull that dissolves in seawater , theONRwill have its work cut out before we see these drones patrolling the shoreline . [ Defense Tech – Navy – Wired – General Dynamics – Images : Bluefin Robotics , US Navy ]
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