Next-Gen Mine Warfare to Include Robotic Systems.

• Author: Tadjdeh, Yasmin

The future of mine warfare will include a mix of unmanned underwater, aerial and surface vehicles and will require new, out-of-the-box ideas from industry, a Navy official said recently.

"As we move forward, our adversary's mines are becoming ... more complex and sophisticated," said Stephen Olson, deputy branch head for mine warfare at OPNAV N952. "Their inventories are growing by leaps and bounds."

The Navy is working hard to counter these systems and is currently in the process of transitioning from its legacy force of dedicated ships and air platforms to a modular mine counter-measure force that will be primarily based off of the littoral combat ship, he said during a panel discussion at the National Defense Industrial Association's Expeditionary Warfare Conference in Annapolis, Maryland.

"Unmanned surface, underwater [and] airborne platforms are going to play a key role in the future MCM force," he noted.

Such systems will enable simultaneous operations of multiple sensors for mine detection, localization, identification and neutralization, while reducing clearance timelines and risk to the force, he added.

Unmanned systems that are able to network with each other during battles will be key, Olson said.

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