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Unmanned Systems

Mine Countermeasures USVs Ready To Support Fifth Fleet Deployment This Year

By Cal Biesecker

Thursday, January 16th, 2025

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Mine Countermeasures USVs Ready To Support Fifth Fleet Deployment This Year

Mine countermeasure unmanned surface vessel being loaded onto the Littoral Combat Ship USS Canberra (LCS 30) in April 2024. Photo: U.S. Navy

The Navy has embarked three unmanned surface vessel (USV)-based mine counter measure (MCM) mission packages aboard three Independence-class variant Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) that will support Fifth Fleet operations this year, a service official said on Wednesday. A fourth MCM mission package will be ship-borne this spring, Capt. Matthew Lehmann, program manager for the LCS and related mission modules, said during a briefing at the Surface Navy Association symposium. Last October the Navy certified the baseline MCM package for deployment,…

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