How Unmanned Systems Could Bring Back Naval Aerial Mining

U.S. Naval Institute ^ | July 2025 | Lieutenant Commander Andy Cichon, U.S. Navy (Retired)

[Retain Mike]

Until the introduction of the Quickstrike-ER in 2014, aviators continued to train for aerial naval mining at the same low altitudes and speeds.14 The mine is equipped with the Quickstrike Target Detection Device fuse, which detonates the mine when a vessel is within range. It also has the GPS guidance of a Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), and wing kits that extend its launch range. The JDAM GPS guides accurate field-laying and allows aircraft to release mines from higher altitudes and at greater speeds. The Quickstrike-ER can provide aircraft with a standoff range of up to 50 nautical miles.

A carrier’s four squadrons of F/A-18E/Fs would conduct aerial naval mining if the air wing were called to perform the mission, but Super Hornets also must perform air defense, surveillance, and strike warfare. Meanwhile, the Air Force has a dwindling number of B-52 and B-1 bombers capable of releasing the Quickstrike-ER.15 The mission is repetitive and dangerous for air crews, but it is ideally suited for UCAVs.

Despite the combat record of aerial mining as a low-cost and persistent weapon system, and the efforts by the Navy and Air Force to develop the Quickstrike-ER, there is no discernible effort to pair this series of shallow-water aerial mines with unmanned systems.1

[Retain Mike]

In response to an attack on Taiwan, the US could mine the approaches to Shanghai and offer to remove them when the Chinese left the island.

Mining Haiphong was a key to getting our prisoners back from the NVA.