Advances in Naval Mine Countermeasures

摘要

The 'toolboxes' include unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) able to autonomously launch, recover, search and identify autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), towed side-scan sonar and mine neutraliser vehicles, in addition to aerial systems from the mothership, all connected and managed through a command and control system. Technological and operational challenges, including autonomous target recognition, communications and unmanned platform power management, however, need to be overcome. After many years of operations with AVENGER class (and previously also OS-PREY class) mine countermeasures vessels (MCMVs) and Sikorsky MH-53E SEA DRAGON helicopters equipped with dedicated towed systems, the US Navy's future surface MCM warfare requirements are planned to be fulfilled by a mix of unmanned and manned systems deployed from the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) class of ships and vessels of opportunity (VOO), while the airborne MCM capability is being evaluated for post-2025 operations. Developed to counter deep, shallow, and tethered mines in the littoral environment, in addition to the Northrop Grumman MQ-8B FIRE SCOUT Vertical Take-off and Landing UAV equipped with dedicated payloads, the LCS MCM Mission Package's (MP) latest configuration includes the Unmanned Minesweeping System (UMS), Remote Mine-Hunting (RMH) and Buried Mine-Hunting (BMH) capability modules. Both the UMS and RMH packages are based on the same 12.7-metre long Common Unmanned Surface Vessel (CUSV) supplied by Textron Systems, towing the UISS (Unmanned Influence Sweep System) or the remote mine-hunting mission equipment. The Textron Systems-provided UISS towed system consists of a magnetic/acoustic sweep system which low-rate production was launched in the Q2 2020 and is planned to reach the initial operational capability (IOC) in 2021.