The remote minehunting system designed for the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships is ready for operational evaluation following the completion this month of developmental testing, the service said Thursday.
The remote minehunting system, or RMS, is meant to detect, classify and show the location of sea mines by using the remote multi-mission vehicle, or RMMV, and the towed AN/AQS-20A variable depth sonar, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) said.
The developmental testing was completed Dec. 9 in Palm Beach, Fla. The goal of the RMS is to allow sailors to detect and clear mines without having to enter suspected minefields, as current missions require.
“The objective of the developmental testing (DT) was to demonstrate that the RMS met reliability, suitability and effectiveness requirements,” NAVSEA said. “Preliminary analyses of the results indicate that the RMS operated as expected and the test objectives were achieved.”
The RMS in part of the mine-counter measures mission package for the Littoral Combat Ship and is one of three swappable packages for the ship class. The others are for surface and anti-submarine warfare. Operational assessment for the RMS is scheduled to begin in January.
The Navy hopes to declare initial operational capability for the anti-mine mission package in 2015. The developmental testing for the entire mine-counter measure package is scheduled for this summer, the Navy said.
The developmental testing included pre-launch mission planning and vehicle readiness checks in addition to operations in a simulated mine-field and post-mission data analysis, the Navy said.
The RMMV completed developmental testing in August after getting off to a difficult start, at once encountering challenges associated with integrating it into ship operations, LCS program officials had previously said.