ATLAS North America (ATLAS NA) has been awarded a follow-on contract by the US Naval Surface Weapons Center (NSWC) to provide portable SeaFox mine neutralisation systems (PMNS) for the US Navy.
Under the modification contract, ATLAS will deliver under-sea warfare systems and provide installation, integration, testing, training and lifecycle support services for the systems.
The agreement has a one-year period of performance and is part of the US Navy central command’s urgent operational requirement for a more effective mine countermeasures.
ATLAS North America president Sergio Diehl said the system would help the US Navy operating in forward deployed areas to more effective and safely counter threats mine warfare threat.
The US Navy has already acquired the SeaFox system and surface mine neutralisation system (SMNS) as part of the ongoing MCM ship class upgrade, while the airborne mine neutralisation systems (AMNS) are deployed onboard Sikorsky-built MH-53 Sea Dragon helicopters.
Designed to be used for semi-autonomous disposal of naval mines and other ordnance found at sea, SeaFox is a fibre-optic-guided, one-shot mine disposal vehicle integrated with several sensor systems.
Based on the expendable mine disposal vehicle principle (EMDV), the system identifies and destroys ground and attached mines without affecting the ship or its crew.
The integrated homing sonar enables the system to automatically relocate previously acquired positions of underwater objects within minutes.
An onboard CCTV camera is used to identify targets that can be destroyed with a built-in, large-calibre shaped charge.
SeaFox systems are deployable from a wide range of carrier platforms such as MCM vessels, surface combatants, crafts, rubber boats and helicopters.
