Remote Mine Countermeasures & Hydrography

FOR PUBLIC RELEASE Maritime / CDE 26 January 2012

What is Mine Countermeasures & Hydrographic Capability ?

Mine Countermeasures (MCM) Capability allows the Royal Navy to reduce the threat from maritime mines and therefore operate in areas that would otherwise be denied
MCM includes a range of methods e.g. self-protection measures such as reducing signatures, finding and clearing the mines, influence mine sweeping

The Hydrographic Survey Capability is the collection of geospatial intelligence to support military operations
Many data types are collected ranging from beach surveying to deep water bathymetry Performed during peace-time and rapid environmental assessment often required during the build up to conflict operations

Crown Copyright (c) Dstl 2012

FOR PUBLIC RELEASE Maritime / CDE 26 January 2012

Dstl is part of the Ministry of Defence

Current MCM Assets

15 MCM Platforms

8 Hunt Class 2193 Wideband Hull Mounted Sonar

7 Sandown Class 2093 Variable Depth Sonar

Seafox mine disposal system Fleet Diving Sqn Fleet UUV Unit

Influence Sweeping System

12 VSW (Remus 100) & 4 Recce (Remus 600)

Crown Copyright (c) Dstl 2012

FOR PUBLIC RELEASE Maritime / CDE 26 January 2012

Dstl is part of the Ministry of Defence

Current Hydrographic Survey Assets

HMS Scott (Ocean Survey Vessel) HMS Echo & Enterprise (Coastal Survey Vessels) HMS Protector (Survey & Ice Patrol Ship) HMS Gleaner (In-shore Survey) Fleet UUV Unit

Crown Copyright (c) Dstl 2012

FOR PUBLIC RELEASE Maritime / CDE 26 January 2012

Dstl is part of the Ministry of Defence

Transformational Change
The drive to reduce costs across defence and increase the flexibility and adaptability of platform systems to further enable affordability has resulted in a vision for a transformational change in the UK approach to deliver Mine Countermeasures and Hydrography The vision for the transformational change is to deliver adaptable, deployable and interoperable mission packages, providing Mine Countermeasure and Hydrographic capabilities through unmanned, offboard systems, which may be controlled remotely from a range of locations

Crown Copyright (c) Dstl 2012

FOR PUBLIC RELEASE Maritime / CDE 26 January 2012

Dstl is part of the Ministry of Defence

Challenges
Detection and classification of mines in cluttered seabeds e.g. rocks, seaweed, buried mines,.. Detection, classification, ID and disposal of mines in the surf zone (3m depth to high water mark) Unmanned systems to perform MCM & hydrography over the horizon planning, C2 of multiple systems, autonomy Security, legal and safety issues for use of unmanned systems particularly over the horizon Automatic Target Recognition for cluttered environments Unmanned Systems Deployment & Survivability improve transit speed to operational area, vulnerability to nets, enemy attack, ..... Unmanned systems - improvements to navigation accuracy and robustness Remote methods for hydrographic data collection

Comments
Dstl funding some sonar developments. New ideas will be prioritised based on potential Dstl funding IR, hyper-spectral and LIDAR. New ideas will be prioritised based on potential Dstl already funding this R&D. Unless difficulties arise significant innovation may not be required Dstl already funding this R&D. Unless difficulties arise significant innovation may not be required Dstl already funding ATR ideas. However, new approaches to reduce false alarms welcome Currently thinking of using an unmanned surface vessel for fast transit of UUVs to operational area, are there better options? Survivability improvements. Reduce reliance on GPS for unmanned systems. UUVs need to surface for updated GPS fix. Systems need to be robust to a lack of GPS service Innovative ways to collect the data rather than sensors on a ship

Crown Copyright (c) Dstl 2012

FOR PUBLIC RELEASE Maritime / CDE 26 January 2012

Dstl is part of the Ministry of Defence

Example Challenge Gaining Environmental Data from a Distance

Can we gather environmental data more efficiently? If we could gather the data without the need for a ship, this may give us more flexibility and efficiency e.g. airborne, satellite, unmanned systems, .... What we are looking for to help with this: Concepts, sensitivities, relationships, inferences, ideas (direct and/or indirect) that: are sensitive to an environmental parameter(s) can measure an environmental parameter(s) can be used away from the position/area that needs to be surveyed

Crown Copyright (c) Dstl 2012

FOR PUBLIC RELEASE Maritime / CDE 26 January 2012

Dstl is part of the Ministry of Defence

Example Challenge Defeating mines in the Surf and Intertidal Zones

The surf and intertidal zones are hugely dynamic and a real challenge! Currently assessing sensing technologies that are seen to be the most likely to succeed in detecting the threat mines e.g. IR, multi/hyper-spectral and LIDAR Hopefully, these can be used from unmanned systems in the future What we are looking for: Sensing methods that we may have missed could include novel sensors or existing sensors with novel signal processing that can exploit the solution e.g. automatic target recognition or fusion Completely different solutions to the problem can we do anything other than sensing the mines and then disposing of the mines? Priority will be given to solutions that have the most potential, lowest cost and can be used effectively within military operations

Crown Copyright (c) Dstl 2012

FOR PUBLIC RELEASE Maritime / CDE 26 January 2012

Dstl is part of the Ministry of Defence

Example Challenge Improving Navigation Capability of Unmanned Underwater Vehicles

Currently unmanned maritime systems assume the availability of GPS What we are looking for: Practical ideas to make the navigation less reliant on GPS Practical ideas to improve the accuracy of underwater positioning of UUVs and to reduce the burden on repeat GPS fixes We are not looking for standard acoustic transponders, we would like something easier, quicker, more practical to use

Crown Copyright (c) Dstl 2012

FOR PUBLIC RELEASE Maritime / CDE 26 January 2012

Dstl is part of the Ministry of Defence

Example Challenge Increased Survivability of Unmanned Maritime Systems

The vision for Unmanned Maritime Systems is to operate in isolation, in some of the most difficult and dynamic maritime environments Financial and operational cost associated with the loss of unmanned systems, means the UK needs to minimise the risks to the systems What we are looking for: Measures to improve the survivability of unmanned system Counter threats from the natural and induced environment, and from physical and electrical interference Novel ideas for directly or indirectly improving survivability Detecting threats, countering threats, different concept of use,......

Crown Copyright (c) Dstl 2012

FOR PUBLIC RELEASE Maritime / CDE 26 January 2012

Dstl is part of the Ministry of Defence

Example Challenge Reducing the size and weight of underwater sensors

Size, weight and power of underwater sensors can reduce endurance, persistence, coverage, and available capability What we are looking for: Lightweight sensors, low-power devices, high-energy power supplies, low-power signal processing Hosted by offboard and unmanned systems Solutions that can provide timely and accurate information for MCM or ASW

Crown Copyright (c) Dstl 2012

FOR PUBLIC RELEASE Maritime / CDE 26 January 2012

Dstl is part of the Ministry of Defence

Game Changing Ideas

The MCM & Hydrography programme is in Concept Phase which means a wide range of concept ideas to meet the capability requirement are being looked at The programme is planned to be a transition over time from current methods, through the use of off-board systems from current ships to the full replacement capability delivered with a new class of ships The new platforms are not planned until ~2028 Ships and their personnel are expensive, they are slow to get to new areas worldwide There is still time to change the course of this programme with game changing technology What opportunities are there to perform MCM & H differently in 10 - 20 years time? Will we still be finding and neutralising mines? Or could we neutralise the threat from mines completely differently making use of e.g. Nano-technology, synthetic biology, signature cancellation, ..... Could we gather the required hydrographic information remotely without the need to deploy a ship to the area

Crown Copyright (c) Dstl 2012

FOR PUBLIC RELEASE Maritime / CDE 26 January 2012

Dstl is part of the Ministry of Defence