Page 39: of Marine Technology Magazine (September 2005)

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Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research,

Development and Acquisition John J. Young, Jr., approved for production the AN/WLD-1 Remote

Minehunting System (RMS). RMS is a next-generation organic mine countermeasure system being developed by the Program Executive Office for Littoral and Mine

Warfare (PEO LMW). "Under the leadership of Secretary Young, the Chief of

Naval Operations, and in close partnership with the Fleet, the Naval Sea Systems Command Warfare Centers and our industry partners, we are now in a position to deliver real capability to the war fighters," said Rear Adm.

William E. Landay, III, program executive officer for

LMW. "The approval of RMS for production is another success story in our ongoing effort to claim ownership of the littoral. RMS and the other systems we are acquiring will help assure access for U.S. and joint forces. As the

CNO has noted, our naval and military success depends upon access, speed and persistence."

Recent at-sea system qualification testing, witnessed by

Commander, Operational Test Force personnel demon- strated acceptable RMS performance to warrant the low- rate production decision. PEO LMW's Mine Warfare

Program Office (PMS-495) is extremely pleased with the

RMS's capability and demonstrated performance, accord- ing to Gary Humes, program manager."During at-sea testing, the system met or exceeded all its critical per- formance parameters and demonstrated the ability to pro- vide a significant operational advantage to our current minehunting capability," said Humes.

Operating from DDG 51-class Flight IIA destroyers and the new Littoral Combat Ship, the RMS will provide con- tinuous, unmanned, over-the-horizon capability to deter- mine the presence or absence of mines. The RMS uses a diesel powered semi-submersible vehicle, 23 feet (7 m) long, four feet (1.2 m) diameter, and weighing 13,000 pounds towing an AN/AQS-20A sonar mine detecting set to detect, classify, and localize volume, tethered, close- tethered, and bottom mines for Strike Group avoidance or organic mine clearance. The system also has the capa- bility to properly identify close-tethered and bottom mines using an electro-optical ID system.

Lockheed Martin, Maritime Systems & Sensors,

Undersea Systems in Syracuse, NY, is the prime contrac- tor for the RMS program. Under the fixed price incentive contract for low rate initial production, Lockheed Martin will produce three vehicles in fiscal year (FY) 2005. The

Navy plans to acquire a total of 47 RMS systems between

FY 2005 and FY 2011.

Recently, PMS-495 and PEO LMW successfully guided two other systems through low rate initial production decisions. The AN/AQS-20A sonar mine detecting set and the AN/AES-1 Airborne Laser Mine Detection

Systems were also approved for production in April and

May, respectively. Both of these systems are to be operat- ed from the MH-60S helicopter.

Remote Minehunting System Approved

Kongsberg Wins $2.1M Contract

Kongsberg Underwater Technology won a $2.1 million contract for the upgrade and maintenance of the U.S.

Navy's existing Kongsberg SM 2000 Underwater

Surveillance Systems. The contract is with the Space and

Naval Warfare Systems Center, San Diego and provides for the ongoing maintenance and upgrade of existing sys- tems over the next five years. It follows a $3 million order in May 2005 for the delivery of an additional 10 SM 2000 systems for the US Coast Guard's Integrated Anti-swim- mer System (IAS). The SM 2000 Underwater Surveillance

System is manufactured by Kongsberg Mesotech Ltd.,

Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada. The system is designed to track and process underwater threats in order to provide alarms for operators to act on. The system uses

Sonar to detect and differentiate between divers and other targets such as marine life and debris.

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