Lawmakers Offer A Way Out of US Navy Minehunting Mess
Christopher P. Cavas 6:33 p.m. EDT September 2, 2015
CUSV unmanned boat
WASHINGTON — Reacting to a new Pentagon assessment that paints a dismal picture of the US Navy’s efforts to field a new seagoing mine countermeasures system, two powerful lawmakers could be clearing a new path through for a way ahead.
“The Navy should consider all available alternatives,” to address the problems, Sens. John McCain, R-Arizona, and Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island – chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the Senate Armed Services Committee – wrote Monday in a letter to Navy and Pentagon leaders.
“Too much is at stake to accept the status quo and permit systems with long documented cost, schedule, performance and reliability shortfalls to get a free pass into the fleet and further production,” the senators wrote to Pentagon acquisition chief Frank Kendall, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Adm. Jon Greenert, the outgoing chief of naval operations.
The latest concerns were prompted by an Aug. 3 memo from Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon’s director of the Office of Test and Evaluation (DOT&E), to Kendall concluding that after two decades in development, the Navy and chief contractor Lockheed Martin have made virtually no progress in improving the reliability of the Remove Multi-Mission Vehicle (RMMV), the key element in the Remote Minehunting System (RMS) under development for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program’s mine countermeasures (MCM) mission package.
In the memo, Gilmore provided extensive data showing the system is far short of a reliability goal of 75 hours’ mean time between operational mission failure (MTBOMF). The RMS, he said, shows an overall MTBOMF of 18.8 hours, while the RMMV vehicle is at 25.0 hours.
Neither Gilmore nor the lawmakers complain about a lack of effort by the Navy or Lockheed Martin. Rather, they note there is little reason to think major improvements are on the way.
But timing is crucial. A decision is to be made in October whether to enter or delay the system’s Initial Operational Test and Evaluation phase, and in February the Navy is to award, delay or cancel the award of a low rate initial production 2 contract for the RMMV.
The Navy is also faced with a real need to field a new minesweeping system. Most of the fleet’s existing MCM assets – particularly Avenger-class mine countermeasures ships and MH-53E Sea Dragon minesweeping helicopters – already are in need of replacement. The MCM package is seen as the most urgently needed capability the LCS can bring to the fleet.
The letter from McCain and Reed is not strident, but even in tone, and urges the Navy to consider several alternatives to continuing with the RMS and RMMV:
Minehunting Unmanned Surface Vehicles (MHUs) and the AQS-24 sonar. Four such systems, using modified 11-meter rigid hull inflatable boats (RHIBs) towing the AQS-24, are in service with the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf, and the sonar is also in service with the minesweeping helicopters.
The Common Unmanned Surface Vehicle (CUSV), under development by Textron as part of the Unmanned Influence Sweep System (UISS) towed array that is part of the LCS Increment 3 MCM package. “The CUSV appears to present both a cheaper and more effective alternative to RMMV, as well as the opportunity for significant cost avoidance,” McCain and Reed wrote, adding that at least 24 CUSVs already are part of the mission package’s program of record. Using only one vehicle to tow minehunting sonars, rather than two, would also simply shipboard operations.
More use of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), such as the Mark 18 Mod 1 Swordfish and Mod 2 Kingfish vehicles fielded with the Fifth Fleet and a submarine, and in test with a Joint High Speed Vessel. The Navy has sponsored significant MCM UUV development in recent years, driven by urgent needs requirements from its Persian Gulf commands.
McCain and Reed offered their support should the Navy choose an alternative to the RMS.
“Should these reviews result in changes to the LCS MCM mission package,” they wrote, “we stand ready to work with you to make time-critical adjustments to ensure the MCM capability the nation will need is fielded in both the near and the long term.”
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http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/2015/09/02/navy-mine-minehunting-countermeasures-lockheed-martin-reed-mccain-senate-armed-services-committee-littoral-combat-ship-lcs/71610438/
