General Dynamics Mission Systems team has completed evaluation of Knifefish autonomous surface mine countermeasure (SMCM) unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV).
In coordination with the U.S. Navy, the testing took place off the coast of Boston using submerged Navy mine test targets.
The evaluation demonstrated the UUV’s capability to detect and classify potential mines.
“The information and situational awareness Knifefish will deliver to sailors is a quantum leap in clarity and accuracy over other mine-hunting systems currently used by the Navy,” said Carlo Zaffanella , vice president and general manager of Maritime and Strategic Systems for General Dynamics Mission Systems.
Simulating mine-hunting missions, the UUV located and classified mine test targets submerged at various depths and on the seafloor. Knifefish is also capable of locating and identifying mines buried in the seafloor, the company explained.
“The Navy continues to work with its industry partner, General Dynamics Mission Systems, to develop, test, and deliver the needed Knifefish capability to the fleet,” Capt. Jon Rucker , program manager for the Navy’s Unmanned Maritime Systems Program Office (PMS406) said. “The system performed well against a variety of surrogate targets and we are confident we will refine its performance to support the planned schedule in 2017.”
Knifefish will undergo additional at-sea testing this year to further refine system performance in advance of formal system acceptance testing with the Navy.