Hybrid sailors drive LCS anti-sub module

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The antisubmarine warfare mission module for littoral combat ships includes robot boats that operate on the surface as sonar platforms. The ASW module was rolled out Sept. 19 in San Diego.


Hybrid sailors drive LCS anti-sub module
By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Sep 29, 2008 7:52:52 EDT

SAN DIEGO — The gray-hulled boat cut a clean line along San Diego Bay, zipping by small sailboats, lingering at times as its onboard systems scanned the surface and below.

Sonar Technician 2nd Class (SW) Benjamin Jett was driving the boat, but he wasn’t aboard. Instead, he was sitting at a computer console inside a portable container.

It was part of a Sept. 18 demonstration at Naval Mine and Anti-Submarine Warfare Command at Naval Base Point Loma, Calif., a day before the rollout of the antisubmarine warfare mission module to be used on littoral combat ships.

The ASW module includes a pair of robot boats that operate on the surface as sonar platforms, along with a robot submarine that carries its own sensors. An LCS also will use its unmanned helicopter, the Fire Scout, and a human-piloted MH-60R Seahawk helicopter to track and attack enemy submarines. The Navy previously rolled out anti-surface and anti-mine modules for the ship, which is expected to deploy in four years.

For 15 members of the ASW Detachment, the day showed what the littoral combat ships’ busy pre-commissioning unit has been working on at Naval Base San Diego.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/09/navy_lcs_092808w/%2e