Navy orders three early model helicopter-based unmanned minehunting systems from Raytheon

March 30, 2014
WASHINGTON, 30 March 2014. Undersea warfare experts at the Raytheon Co. Integrated Defense Systems segment in Portsmouth, R.I., will provide the U.S. Navy with three Airborne Mine Neutralization Systems (AMNS) under terms of a $17.7 million contract modification announced this past week.
WASHINGTON, 30 March 2014.Undersea warfare experts at the Raytheon Co. Integrated Defense Systems segment in Portsmouth, R.I., will provide the U.S. Navy with three Airborne Mine Neutralization Systems (AMNS) under terms of a $17.7 million contract modification announced this past week.

Officials of the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington are asking Raytheon to provide three AMNS low-rate initial production (LRIP) mine-hunting systems to destroy bottom and moored sea mines using an expendable mine neutralize device.

Navy forces will deploy the AMNS from the MH-60 helicopter as part of the littoral combat ship mine countermeasures mission module, Navy officials say.

LRIP describes small-quantity weapons production for final testing and evaluation in actual military operations before full-rate production. LRIP typically is the first step in switching from customized, hand-built prototypes to the final mass-produced end product.

Related: Ocean mines have nowhere to hide

The AMNS deploys explosive mine-destroying vehicles from a Launch and Handling System (LHS) on the MH-60S helicopter. The mine-destroying unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) takes its control from the helicopter's common console; it identifies mines before controllers on the helicopter command it to explode and destroy the mine nearby.

The AN/ASQ-235 AMNS consists of two major subsystems: the LHS and the neutralizer. The LHS performs data processing during an AMNS mission, while the LHS manages the neutralizers, and enables the helicopter's common console to communicate with the neutralizers.

The LHS connects with the Carriage Stream Tow and Recovery System (CSTRS) and can carry as many as four neutralizers on each mission. Each of the four neutralizers can launch one at a time without recovering the LHS.

Related: Navy to buy three AN/AQS-20A mine-hunting sonars from Raytheon in potential $199.7 million deal

The neutralizer communicates with the common console via a fiber-optic data link and provides sonar and video data to operators using the common console. The neutralizer contains a sonar, video camera, and light to find, identify, and attack enemy sea mines.

The neutralizer has six degrees of motion, can maintain a hover position, and can be operated either in automatic or manual mode. The neutralizer also can monitor depth and relative distance from the bottom and can avoid bottom plowing. The operators determine the neutralizer's position with an Integrated Track Point II acoustic tracking system in the LHS.

On this contract modification Raytheon will do the work in Portsmouth, R.I., and should be finished by May 2016. For more information contact Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems online at www.raytheon.com or Naval Sea Systems Command at www.navsea.navy.mil.

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