Page 13: of Marine Technology Magazine (March 2025)

ious types of bottom mines, including reseed or saturate existing mine? elds at petition intensi? es in contested regions

Forcit’s Blocker mine, which can be minimum risk. Covertly laid mine? elds like the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic deployed at depths of up to 200 meters allow naval forces to be “near while ap- Sea, mine warfare will likely play a for up to two years. And Rheinmetall pearing far,” and the ability to deploy role in shaping future con? icts, and the

Defence Australia, through a partner- advanced sea mines from civilian and ability to leverage deception for mine- ship with Supashock, has developed unmanned platforms would be a key laying at scale could provide a decisive the Mine Rail Deployment System operational enabler. As maritime com- asymmetric advantage.

(MRDS) to deploy cylindrical bottom mines, such as Rheinmetall’s Murena and Asteria mines, which can operate at depths up to 300 meters. Strategi- cally positioned at a cargo ship’s stern, containerized systems like these could discreetly deploy mines while transit- ing the shipping lanes along the west coast of Taiwan, making multiple pass- es over weeks or months. The mines would then lie in wait, dormant, until activated by an acoustic signal. This concept could apply to other strate- gic waterways, such as the Baltic Sea, where commercial vessels are already widely suspected to be engaging in seabed warfare by sabotaging subma- rine cables. With the ability to covertly deploy mines from civilian ships, any port or maritime chokepoint could po- tentially be vulnerable.

Unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) may also play a role in future minelay- ing. Ukrainian Sea Baby USVs have been observed carrying pairs of Italian- made Manta bottom mines, and there are reports that minelaying Ukrainian

USVs may have been responsible for damaging the Russian guided missile corvette Samum. The destructive power of Mantas is well known. During Op- eration Desert Storm, two Iraqi Manta mines armed with just 325 pounds of explosives each achieved a mission kill on the USS Princeton, a 9,800 ton guid- ed missile cruiser. If a small USV like

Sea Baby can deploy two Manta mines, a medium USV could accommodate even larger payloads, perhaps by in- tegrating a Cube- or SUMICO-style containerized mechanical conveyor, or an angled, gravity-assisted deploy- ment system, for remotely controlled or semi-autonomous minelaying. Dis- guised as ? shing boats, port security vessels, or high-speed recreational wa- tercraft, unmanned minelayers could www.marinetechnologynews.com 13

MTR #3 (1-17).indd 13 3/14/2025 11:06:29 AM