연안전투함 10년 가량의 지연 끝에 소해 패키지를 장착한 LCS

[위종민]

LCS-32 USS 산타바바라와 LCS-30 USS 캔버라가 소해 패키지를 장착하고 3월 10일 샌디에이고를 출항했다고 합니다. 올 해 한 척이 더 소해 패키지를 장착할 예정이라고 합니다. MH-60S 신형 소해헬기과 AQS-20C 소나, 무인 소해구로 이뤄졌다고 합니다. 

계획보다 10년 가량 지연돼 어벤저급 MCM, MH-53E 시 드래곤의 퇴역이 지연됐다고 하네요. 

Navy Deploys First Operational LCS Mine Countermeasures Packages - USNI News

Navy Deploys First Operational LCS Mine Countermeasures Packages

Sam LaGrone

March 18, 2025 7:33 PM

MCM UUV in the mission bay of an Independence-class Littoral Combat Ship. US Navy Photo

The Littoral Combat Ships carrying the first two operational mine countermeasure packages deployed earlier this month after more than a decade of fits, starts and failed systems, USNI News has learned.

USS Santa Barbara (LCS-32) and USS Canberra (LCS-30) quietly left San Diego, Calif., on March 10th with the long-awaited mission packages that will replace the Navy’s aging mine hunting ships and aircraft, Navy officials confirmed to USNI News last week.

Assembled from a variety of separate systems, the MCM package stitches the components together, using the combinations of helicopter-borne and remote systems to find and neutralize sea mines from the surface to deep water.

Countering sea mines, the weapons responsible for more damage to U.S. Navy warships than any other weapon since World War II, have been the responsibility of some of the Navy’s oldest platforms. The promised MCM mission package is reaching the fleet 10 years later than planned. In the intervening decade, the Navy has delayed the retirement of the 1980s Avenger-class minehunters, fiberglass-coated wooden ships that have been forward-deployed to Japan and Bahrain, and the MH-53E Sea Dragon MCM helicopters that tow heavy minesweeping sleds. The helicopters have been in service since 1983.

Now, with the deployment of Santa Barbara and Canberra, the Navy is swapping out the forward-deployed Avengers in the Middle East and Japan, LCS program manager Capt. Matt Lehman and PEO USC mine warfare senior leader Sam Taylor told USNI News last week.

“We just deployed the two ships with the MCM mission package, which we’re really excited about on the mission package side,” Lehman said.
“We’ve got one more to go this year.”

The first set of systems in the MCM package that will replace the Avengers center around the embarked MH-60S helicopter and the MCM Unmanned Surface Vehicle — a multi-use system that tows the AQS-20C sonar developed for the package and hosts other systems.

USS Canberra (LCS-30) approaches the mouth of the harbor at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division in California to undergo a Combat Systems Assessment Team event on Oct. 31, 2024. US Navy Photo

For the Navy, which is currently procuring small USVs for lethal sea strike roles, the MCM package is the first in the service to incorporate an unmanned vessel into a program of record and include an autonomous capability.

Mine hunting is often tedious and dangerous, a reality that pushed the Navy to get the sailor out of the minefield and have technology assist in analyzing sonar data. Current Avengers are built out of wood and the crew is vigilant to minimize the magnetic signature that could set off specific types of mines. They’re crewed by sailors with the experience to tell the difference between a mine and a sunken refrigerator.

“We are changing the way we’ve done business over the years, and it’s a radical change,” Lehman told USNI News.
“We’re the first USV to [reach initial operational capability] anywhere in the Navy. We are incorporating autonomous operations into this whole thing where we had not done that before.”

Initially set for an initial operational capability in 2015, the MCM package went through a development process punctuated by stops and program failures. For example, the first craft that would tow the AQS-20 sonar to hunt the bulk of mines suffered reliability problems and was scrapped. The service also canceled a plan for the MH-60S to tow the AQS-20. After years of program changes, the package has coalesced around a few core main systems, Taylor said.

From the embarked MH-60, the AN/AES-1 Airborne Laser Mine Detection System uses lasers to detect mines closer to the surface. Once detected, the helicopter can deploy the AN/ASQ-235 Airborne Mine Neutralization System that lowers a torpedo-sized tube that carries expendable destructor vehicles to neutralize a mine.

AQS-20C Sonar. Raytheon Image

On the surface, the MCM USV carries both the AQS-20C sonar to detect mines and an Unmanned Influence Sweep System that detonates influence mines — sea mines that detonate when they detect specific sounds or magnetic signatures.

The next system due for the package is the AN/WSQ-46 Barracuda Mine Neutralization System which can detonate near-surface mines.

“Barracuda will be doing the neutralization for the near-surface region from right now, from probably USV,” Taylor said.

The modular structure of the package, contained in a few standard shipping containers, allows it to be used on LCS, from the shore or on vessels of opportunity.

“I definitely have a requirement for the vessel of opportunity, and they are constructed in a way that we can go ashore on other vessels,” Lehman said.

Ten years ago, the LCS package would have also taken on other threats like beach mines, but the Navy has scaled back the scope of the initial mine packages. The Navy has also developed a more robust expeditionary MCM capability with a reliance on unmanned underwater vehicles and traditional explosives ordnance disposal sailors.

An MH-60S Knight Hawk helicopter from the Laser Hawks of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 26, Detachment 2, equipped with the Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS) conducts flight operations in August 2014. US Navy photo.

To support the MCM package, the mine men for the mission package have been incorporated into the LCS’s company and train at the schoolhouses in Mayport and San Diego, Taylor and Lehman told USNI News.

Lehman and Taylor did not provide details about the deployment, but Stars and Stripes reported last year that Santa Barbara, Canberra and USS Tulsa (LCS-16) would be stationed in Bahrain. As the LCS arrive in Bahrain and Japan, the remaining handful of Avengers will be decommissioned. The MH-53Es are set to sundown over the next year, USNI News understands.

Overall, the Navy is on track to acquire 24 of the mission packages that can grow as new systems and software become available.

Lehman and Taylor said new autonomous technology and rapid acquisition will allow the program to grow quickly.

“Some people go whole careers without seeing changes like this. In [this] warfare area, we’re seeing huge changes,” Taylor said. “It’s a good thing to highlight that we’re making good, positive changes in this by, putting these unmanned systems out there.”