After reviewing the recommendations of the independent team charged with assessing the Remote Minehunting System (RMS) program, the Navy has decided not to move forward with a second round of low rate initial production, essentially keeping the fate of a key asset in the Littoral Combat Ship’s (LCS) mine countermeasures mission package in limbo, sources involved with the program told Defense Daily.
Instead, the Navy’s preferred path forward is for RMS manufacturer Lockheed Martin [LMT] to upgrade its existing systems in preparation for a “swim off” two or three years from now. During those demonstrations, Lockheed Martin will have to prove the system’s performance and reliability against other mine countermeasures (MCM) platforms, including Textron’s [TXT] Common Unmanned Surface Vehicle (CUSV) and the Knifefish unmanned underwater vehicle manufactured by General Dynamics [GD], one source said.
Those other companies, however, will also be awarded funds meant to accelerate development of MCM capabilities that could replace RMS, should they outstrip its effectiveness, the source said.
At issue is the RMS’s Remote Multi-Mission Vehicle (RMMV), a diesel-powered unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) that tows a variable depth sonar used to detect bottom and moored mines. During technical evaluation last year, Navy officials expressed dissatisfaction with the performance and reliability of the RMMV, citing frequent vehicle failures.
The minehunting system has had a history of reliability problems since the program was started in 1993, and its performance has not improved, stated the 2015 report from the Pentagon’s director of operational test and evaluation (DOT&E). RMS experienced 17 mission failures during the technical evaluation, which lasted from April 7 to Aug. 30. Of those, 15 failures were attributed to the RMMV. The system as a whole had only a 15.6 hour mean time between operational failures, falling well short of the 75-hour requirement.
“On six occasions, an RMMV could not be recovered aboard LCS 2 and had to be towed to port by test support craft, and then shipped to the remote operating site,” the report stated.
Following a scathing memo from DOT&E that highlighted the system’s reliability deficiencies during technical evaluation and the resulting criticism from members of Congress, the Navy announced that it had chartered an independent review of the program on Sept. 25. The review team was tasked with assessing the RMS’s technical risk, schedule and cost; validating the service’s requirements and the system’s ability to meet them; and evaluating potential alternatives. The team would then make recommendations, which would help Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson and the Navy’s top acquisition official Sean Stackley determine whether to continue procurement (Defense Daily, Oct. 14).
The independent review also delayed a Milestone C decision to move forward with low rate production—a decision that is now on hold indefinitely, pending the results of the “swim off” that will pit the RMS against Knifefish, the CUSV and potentially other systems, the source said. The demonstrations—which would likely take the form of shore-based tests—will likely not occur until two or three years from now, in part because the Navy’s 2017 budget request does not reflect the service’s plan to upgrade the RMMV and accelerate other programs. The service will have to make a reprogramming request to Congress to redirect funding from other parts of the budget.
Lockheed Martin has produced 10 RMMVs so far, some of which are a decade old. Only the four vehicles used during technical evaluations have received the most recent 6.0 upgrades that replace components that are worn out, obsolete or prone to failure. As a result of the independent review, the remaining six vehicles will be upgraded at the Navy’s direction in the hopes of boosting their reliability, said another source familiar with the program. Instating more frequent maintenance availabilities could also increase the time between vehicle failures.
The Navy may also require upgrades to the RMS’ sonar system, the AQS-20A manufactured by Raytheon [RTN], and the government-furnished communications suite, which experienced difficulties establishing a connection with the ship during DOT&E tests, the source said.
Some companies have already begun positioning their products as potential replacements for RMS. Textron’s CUSV, an unmanned surface boat, is part of the LCS mine countermeasures package and is slated to provide minesweeping capability under the name Unmanned Influence Sweep System.
Wayne Prender, Textron Systems’ unmanned systems vice president of control and surface systems, told Defense Daily in January that if the Navy decided not to move forward with RMS procurement, UISS could offer an alternative.
“RMS is specifically designed to tow a side scan sonar, which is one of the capabilities that this system certainly has. We’ve demonstrated the ability to pull a side scanned sonar before,” he said, referencing a 2012 demonstration at Trident Warrior exercise, where the CUSV pulled an L-3 [LLL] side scan sonar and the SeaFox mine neutralization system. “As we move forward with the U.S. Navy customer … we’ll [further] develop that capability” (Defense Daily, Jan. 21)
A Navy spokeswoman declined to comment on the findings of the review team or the service’s path forward.
“The Chief of Naval Operations and the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisition) are reviewing the results of the independent review of the Remote Minehunting System,” Capt. Thurraya Kent said in a statement. “The results of the review will be thoroughly analyzed by Navy leadership and will inform Navy recommendations to OSD on the way forward. The Navy will not comment publicly on the analysis or any recommendations until decisions within DoD are finalized.”