May 22, 2020
Flying Naval Mines Could Change Naval Warfare Forever
Or is this another supposed game-changer that is going nowhere?
by Caleb Larson
Like land mines, naval mines sit in wait for enemy traffic—not soldiers or tanks, but ships and submarines. These silent killers can be activated in a variety of ways, by direct physical contact, via magnetic detection, or by hearing moment in or on the water. Tedious and time consuming to disarm—they are low-cost and are used to cut off an enemy’s access to mined areas.
In recent years, the U.S. Navy has fielded the SLMM (Submarine-Launched Mobile Mine) as well as a 500, 1,000, and 2,000 pound Quickstrike mines. Like their land-based counterparts, naval mine technology is really old. Dr. George Ka’iliwai III, USINDOPACOM Director of Requirements and Resources told reporters that “current mine technology, while effective, has been largely unchanged since World War II.†But, Navy recently built something new.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/flying-naval-mines-could-change-naval-warfare-forever-156846
