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fying mines, especially the hard-to-? nd bottom and buried mines in high clutter environments. Knife? sh uses the low- frequency broadband capability devel- oped by the Physical Acoustics Branch of the Naval Research Laboratory. The 2,000-lb., 22-foot long Knife? sh is based on the Blue? n 21 UUV. It’s sized for a 21-inch submarine torpedo tube,
Knife? sh is intended to be launched by a surface craft. According to the manufac- turer, Knife? sh will reduce risk to per- sonnel by operating within mine? elds as an off-board sensor while the host ship stays outside the mine? eld boundaries.
Although it has passed its milestones, the MCM mission package being deliv- ered to the Independence variant LCS does not yet have the Knife? sh system.
Small UUVS
The Navy’s expeditionary forces can deploy with small UUVs for underwa- ter survey or mine countermeasures, and can operate from land or various craft of opportunity. Man-portable UUV s are available on the market, including the General Dynamics Mission Systems
Blue? n Robotics Blue? n-9 and HII Re- mus 100 and 300.
Offensive Mines
The U.S. inventory of sea mines is either dropped by aircraft, such as the
Quick Strike family of mines, or covert- ly deployed by submarines like SLMM and Hammerhead. Quick Strike are ba- sically air dropped bombs with special fusing mechanisms that can wait to be detonated under the right circumstance.
Submarines can carry the MK 67 sub- marine launched mobile mine (SLMM) is based on the MK 37 torpedo. It can clandestinely swim to a pre-determined location where it waits until target crite- ria are met, at which time it detonates.
The Hammerhead undersea mine is also submarine launched and can be delivered to a location where it sits and wait until a target is detected. It is based on the Cold War-era CAPTOR mine, which stood for “enCAPsulated TOR- pedo,” which was armed with a MK 46 lightweight torpedo, and could operate www.marinetechnologynews.com 29
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