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Links for above images:
Link takes you to the Seapower article in the image above.
Seapower is the official publication of the U.S. Navy League.
“BALTOPS 22: A Perfect Opportunity for Research and Testing New Technology”
[In my olden days, this was known as “Cover For Action.”]
BALTIC SEA — A significant focus of BALTOPS every year is the demonstration of NATO mine hunting capabilities, and this year the U.S. Navy continues to use the exercise as an opportunity to test emerging technology, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa Public Affairs said June 14.
In support of BALTOPS, U.S. Navy 6th Fleet partnered with U.S. Navy research and warfare centers to bring the latest advancements in unmanned underwater vehicle mine hunting technology to the Baltic Sea to demonstrate the vehicle’s effectiveness in operational scenarios.
Experimentation was conducted off the coast of Bornholm, Denmark, with participants from Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific, Naval Undersea Warfare Center Newport, and Mine Warfare Readiness and Effectiveness Measuring all under the direction of U.S. 6th Fleet Task Force 68.
BALTOPS is an ideal location for conducting mine hunting experimentation due to the region’s unique environmental conductions such as low salinity and varying bottom types. It is also critical to evaluate emerging mine hunting UUV technology in the Baltic due to its applicability with allied and partner nations. This year experimentation was focused on UUV navigation, teaming operations, and improvements in acoustic communications all while collecting critical environmental data sets to advance the automatic target recognition algorithms for mine detection.
“In prior BALTOPS we demonstrated advanced capabilities to detect, reacquire and collect images of mine contacts, and transfer those images in near real-time to operators through the use of a specialized Office of Naval Research UUV,” said Anthony Constable, Office of Naval Research science advisor to U.S. 6th Fleet. “This year, through the work of NIWC Pacific and NUWC Newport, we are showing that this capability can be integrated into programs of record by executing complex multi-vehicle UUV missions with modified U.S. Navy fleet assets.”
[more at link]
Link to youtube video of helo-launched UUV above:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kegFJgpNNmg&ab_channel=DefenseFlashNews
BALTOPS 50 Site For Experimental Mine Hunting Equipment
12 June 2021
PUTLOS, Germany - Exercise Baltic Operations (BALTOPS), the premier maritime-focused exercise in the Baltic region, has been underway since June 6, 2021.
For the first time this annual exercise, explosive ordnance and mine countermeasure units from the Navy and the Marine Corps integrated into a NATO multi-national exercise using cutting- edge technology and experimental equipment to increase the effectiveness of mine countermeasure.
[I can’t wait to see the results of the “investigation” of the NS1 & 2 pipeline sabotage operations. IMHO, the same folks who were tasked to perform the sabotage will be tasked with the investigation.
Read the info at the link and watch the embedded video. The new term for an untethered ROV is UUV, Underwater Unmanned Vehicle. Instead of finding war mines, they can find a well-charted pipeline a lot easier, and be modified to blow it up. Just spitballing, but I believe these are the tracks to investigate.