Companies vie for mine reconnaissance vehicle

Engineers from the Boeing North American Inc. Autonetics & Missile Systems Division in Anaheim, Calif., and the Northrop Grumman Corp. Electronic Sensors and Systems Division in Annapolis, Md., are working on a detailed design of the future U.S. Navy Long-term Mine Reconnaissance System, better known as LMRS. This new completely autonomous undersea vehicle is expected to push the state of the art in sensors, energy, and signal processing. The LMRS is to be the Navy`s standard submarine-launched and recovered mine reconnaissance system starting in 2003. Boeing and Northrop Grumman engineers are working under $9.5 million contracts from Naval Sea Systems Command, Arlington, Va. - J.K.