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Airborne Mine Countermeasures Community Hosts Seminar to Advance Tactics

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS060323-08
Release Date: 3/23/2006 2:20:00 PM

By Cindy Corbin Weilert, Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Tactics Branch

PANAMA CITY, Fla. (NNS) -- Sponsored by the Mine Warfare Program Office, the seventh Airborne Mine Countermeasures (AMCM) Advanced Tactics Continuum was held at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City (NSWC PC) March 13-17.

According to NSWC PC’s Deputy Director of the Analysis and Assessment Directorate, Brenna Williams, the AMCM Continuum was specially designed for AMCM tactics officers and personnel - to include the operations specialist and mineman ratings - as well as prospective squadron executive officers, commanding officers, operations officers, and personnel from all levels of the MCM squadron staffs.

“The AMCM Advanced Tactics Continuum allows Fleet operators, program sponsors, and technologists to share knowledge about AMCM equipment and tactics on a continuing basis,” Williams said.

Providing opportunity for in-depth discussions of AMCM equipment and integrated MCM mission planning, the training also benefits other naval personnel and civilians who interact with the AMCM community.

“Technical experts from NSWC PC and the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVO) presented briefings to students from the Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadrons HM-14 from Norfolk, Va., and HM-15 from Corpus Christi, Texas,” said NSWC PC Fleet AMCM Tactics Development Project Manager Kevin Oakes, whose project is responsible for conducting the Continuum annually. "The class total was 16, with other participants from the Mine Warfare Command in Corpus Christi, Texas, and NSWC PC, both Navy civilians and contractors. Mine Warfare and Environmental Decision Aids Library (MEDAL) briefings were also provided by Brett Dean of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)."

Dean also facilitated two MCM mission planning training sessions, which were conducted using the MEDAL-Build 10.

Topics discussed included the current global mine threat; mine design and performance; mine countermeasure theory; several environmental briefs with an emphasis on the acoustic, magnetic, and optical effects on MCM systems performance; MEDAL; current AMCM equipment and its tactical use; the new organic airborne and surface MCM systems; and detailed examples on MCM mission planning.

“A two-day simulated war game using the NSWC PC Naval Mine Warfare Simulation (NMWS) program gave students the opportunity to plan an MCM operation using a variety of AMCM assets, surface MCM assets, divers, and mammals,” Oakes said.

According to NSWC PC NMWS Project Engineer Tom Seldenright, the NMWS program accurately reflects mine, expeditionary, littoral, and amphibious warfare equipment capabilities and the execution of tactics in the context of significant Naval operations.

“The simulation realistically modeled the interactions among the Naval assets, mine warfare equipment, and various mine types – all part of the war game to evaluate the effectiveness of systems and tactics used by the students,” Seldenright said.

“After running the plans through the NMWS program, students were debriefed on the number of mines found, mines missed, ships lost, and the time it took to complete their mission,” Oakes concluded, adding to the benefits mentioned by Seldenright.