BALTIC SEA –
During Baltic Operations Exercise 2024 (BALTOPS 24), Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City Division (NSWC PCD) demonstrated ways in which the command develops, delivers, and sustains innovative capabilities for our nation’s warfighters.
Conducted since 1971, BALTOPS is an annual maritime-focused military exercise in the Baltic Sea and its surrounding regions during the month of June. The exercise is noteworthy due to its scale and complexity, involving more than 50 ships, 85 aircraft, and approximately 9,000 personnel from 20 NATO member nations. This year’s exercise marks the largest assembly of amphibious and mine-hunting forces in the event’s history.
Two of the technical capabilities NSWC PCD contributed to BALTOPS 2024 were the AN/ASQ-235 Airborne Mine Neutralization System (AMNS) and the Common Undersea Visualization and Exploitation Tool (CUVET).
The AMNS is a reacquisition, identification, and neutralization system that is deployed from the MH-60S helicopter against bottom and moored mines. Jose Lebron and Derek Decker, AMNS In-Service Engineering Agent team, provided on-site support to a detachment from a sea combat helicopter squadron while they participated in mine clearance operations in support of BALTOPS 2024.
Over the course of 10 days, Lebron and Decker supported the detachment by assisting in the configuration of the MH-60S for airborne mine countermeasures operations and subsequent troubleshooting.
“AMNS provided mine clearance support to Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO in the Baltic Region,” said Lebron, AMNS Fleet Support and Training lead. “AMNS impacted BALTOPS and the Navy by demonstrating the airborne mine neutralization capability to U.S. combatant commanders and 20 NATO allies. This is important because it contributes to the strengthening of combined response capabilities critical to preserving freedom of navigation and security.”
On-site support is beneficial to the fleet should the need for troubleshooting arise. NSWC PCD’s AMNS team ensured that the helicopter squadron had everything they needed to make this portion of the event a success.
CUVET is a containerized software application developed to enhance situational awareness for Subsea and Seabed Warfare (SSW) missions by aggregating tactical data from multiple unique sources in one common display and providing novel algorithms designed to help operators exploit the data as soon as it becomes available, accelerating the time required to make key strategic decisions.
NSWC PCD’s Matthew Booth, project manager, and Shane Slusser, CUVET technical lead/senior software engineer, supported BALTOPS 2024 near the Baltic Sea.
“The NSWC PCD CUVET team was contacted by the Fleet Experimentation group from Navy Warfare Development Center to participate in BALTOPS 2024 as an opportunity to put CUVET in front of fleet users and collect their feedback on the usefulness and future improvements of the software," said Booth. “During this time the team worked alongside a U.S. Sixth Fleet Mine Countermeasures (MCM) fleet and an explosive ordnance disposal mobile unit during daily operations to collect data and provide it for use within CUVET. Currently, no other tool provides the user with the capability to ingest, display, and exploit the unique data sources that CUVET supports in the SSW domain.”
During BALTOPS 2024, a significant MCM operation was carried out, involving an MH-60S Seahawk helicopter equipped with the AMNS system to combat moored mines. Additionally, the innovative CUVET capability granted fleet users enhanced situational awareness for better strategic decision-making.
NSWC PCD's technical capabilities not only underscore the command's vital role in supporting BALTOPS 2024, but also showcase its relevance in a range of other maritime security operations aimed at upholding the U.S. Navy's maritime superiority.