Automated Mine Neutralization Vehicle Navy SBIR FY2005.2 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2005.2 Topic No.: N05-128 Topic Title: Automated Mine Neutralization Vehicle Proposal No.: N052-128-0658 Firm: Ocean Acoustical Services and Instrumentation Syst 5 Militia Drive Lexington, Massachusetts 02421 Contact: Kevin Heaney Phone: (703) 250-5158 Web Site: None Abstract: Recent advances have been made in searching for and locating volume and proud mines in shallow and very shallow water. The procedure for neutralizing mines is still labor intensive, slow, expensive and dangerous. In this SBIR, OASIS and Lockheed Martin-Sippican (LMS) address the need for a ship, air or submarine launched unmanned vehicle to provide automated mine neutralization. The proposed Expendable Mine Automated Neutralizer (EMAN) vehicle will be a variant of the LMS production EMATT (Expendable Mobile Acoustic Training Target). Following the detection and localization by the reconnaissance UUV, an acoustic marker beacon will be placed in the vicinity of the mine and will have precise relative positions between the marker and the target. The EMAN's task is to transit to the beacon location, then transit to the position of the mine and await detonation instructions. The technical challenge to be addressed is the detection of the beacon signal in a noisy, bottom limited, very shallow water and dynamically complex environment, and then to transit to the beacon and the mine. With minor variants to the EMATT in hardware (adding hydrophones) and software, the EMAN system can be in production within the specified cost goals in the NEAR TERM. Benefits: The opportunity to provide near term production (at the end of Phase II) of this platform is a significant benefit of this proposal. Current Navy operations involve the use of manned vehicles operating inside the mine field and the deployment of mine neutralizing ordnance either by divers or marine mammals. The development and transition of the EMAN system will reduce the cost, the time-lag, and the danger of this operation considerably. The ability to use a UUV to detect and home in on the location of an acoustic beacon has further applications for research and development. The survey community (naval and seismic) could use a system architecture that permitted the transiting of an UUV to a beacon marker to re-initiate a survey with precise location co-ordinates. Return