Navy Rebuilds LCS Mine-Hunting Technology

by Kris Osborn

For the Littoral Combat Ship such that it can find an eliminate threatening undersea mines with drones, helicopters and underwater sonar, service officials said.

The service plans to engineer a new “truck” or delivery mechanism for its sonar and undersea mine-detection technology as a way to ensure the system is integrated and functional by 2018. The move is part of a broader effort to improve reliability for the system by replacing a vehicle called a Remote Multi-Mission Vehicle, or RMMV. Reliability problems for the RMMV have resulted in delays and pauses to the Mine-Counter-Measures mission package designed for the LCS.

Having an operational mine-search-and-destroy technology aboard the LCS is perceived by Navy developers as essential to the ship’s mission. As a fast, multi-mission littoral vessel designed to both function independently and as part of an aggregated group, the LCS is tasked with providing reconnaissance and possible attack missions in support of larger ships – often hitting shallow water, ports or coastal areas in proximity to enemy forces where larger draft vessels are unable to operate.

The Navy plan is to preserve and build upon the promising testing performance airborne mine-neutralization technology and underwater sonar by providing a new RMMV-like delivery technology, Capt. Casey Moton, LCS Mission Packages Program Manager, told Scout Warrior in an interview.

“Navy made the decision to conduct a review with an independent review team to report out and set us up on an approach. We are changing the truck that carries the sonar,” he said.

The RMMV is a high-endurance, semi-autonomous, low-observable, unmanned, diesel-powered vehicle, operated and maintained from the LCS. It is designed to lower out of the back of an LCS down into the water, bringing a mine-searching AN/AQS-20A sonar with it.

The AN/AQS-20A incorporates five separate sonar/sensors in a compact, lightweight, and hydro-dynamically stable towed body. The AN/AQS-20A localizes mine-like objects and provides the operator with a visual image and a contact data list.  All mission data are recorded by the LCS for post-mission analysis.