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Biennial Symposium Advances Naval Mine Warfare
U.S. Navy photo by MC1 Lewis Hunsaker

Biennial Symposium Advances Naval Mine Warfare

By MC1 Lewis Hunsaker

Director, Expeditionary Division Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Christopher Owens addresses the audience during the 12th International Mine Warfare (MIW) Technology Symposium at the Embassy Suites in Seaside, California, May 24. The three-day biennial symposium is the only Navy-sponsored event solely focused on naval mine warfare and associated technologies. 

"It has occurred to me that we [as a community] are trying to do three things simultaneously," said Owens. "Replace our primary surface and air platforms with multi-use platforms, replace most of the systems and go mainly to remotely operated systems to take the Sailor out of the minefield, and increase our clearance rates.

"The bottom line is we have been making progress towards this future force, but the progress has been choppy," he added.

Some of the reasons for the uneven progress is the nearly $110 million cut to mine warfare programs over that last three years, Owens noted.

"Mine warfare is a very complex area, but when you get into the Pentagon and the Navy Yard, it gets even more complex," said Owens. "In this area of resource constraints, each of the other resource sponsors is wrestling not with what should be funded, but with what can be cut with the least amount of damage."

During the symposium, naval and industry speakers, along with guests from 12 countries, had the opportunity to address a broad range of topics including the current status, operational reports, future concepts, requirements, mine countermeasures, technologies, unmanned maritime systems and concepts.

"The key thing about a symposium like this is the sharing of ideas and working together [to solve problems]," said Commander, Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center Rear Adm. James W. Kilby. "We need to be able to experiment throughout the community on ideas, and expend some energy at the academic level such as NPS."

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