Navy

The U.S. Navy Is Going Old School to Kill Enemy Warships and Submarines

The US Navy is making an aggressive push toward "offensive" mine warfare designed to attack and destroy enemy ships and submarines with undersea explosives - all while preparing a complex suite of interwoven mine countermeasure technologies.

“We will produce a mine warfare plan to include offensive mine lines of effort. We are asking the CNO (Chief of Naval Operations) to sign in the next 90 days,” Maj. Gen. David Coffman, Navy Director of Expeditionary Warfare, told an audience recently at the Surface Naval Association Symposium.

Mine technology, including both shallow and deep water mines, is not only advancing quickly but also rapidly proliferating around the world, therefore reaching a wider swatch of potential US enemies. Advances in offensive seamine technology is something the US plans to leverage itself while working to sharpen its focus on countering the growing mix of enemy mine threats.

Greater volumes of advanced “deep water” mines represent an area of concern for Coffman and other maritime warfare leaders, who recognize that the weapons are not restricted to littoral areas - but also substantial threats when it comes open or “blue” water warfare.