After 16 Years, U.S. Navy's Underwater Mine-Hunting Drone Still Falls Short
- Navy's next purchase of drone depends on improving reliability
- `Remote Minehunting System' for use on Littoral Combat Ship
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Lockheed Martin Corp. has more than $700 million at stake in convincing the U.S. Navy it can remedy flaws in new underwater drones intended to hunt down mines from a safe distance.
Rigorous testing required for approval of a new combat system was postponed in July after evaluations found five mission “failures that impacted reliability” in 195 hours of operations, according to the Navy’s Sea Systems Command. That performance, “specifically in a very short operating time span, is cause for concern, and the Navy is working to rectify” the problems, according to Christopher Johnson, a spokesman for the command.