Navy Looks to Small Business to Solve RMS Problems
Lockheed Martin's troubled AN/WLD-1 Remote Minehunting System is the key component of the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship Mine Counter-measures Mission Package (MCM MP) and has been under development for nearly two decades. The heart of the system is a diesel-powered, semi-submersible Remote Multi-Mission Vehicle (RMMV) designed to tow a variable depth mine-hunting sonar. AN/WLD-1 aboard USS Freedom (LCS-2) Testing on RMS prototypes began in 1994, but the system has yet to mature to full operational status. In an effort to work some of the kinks out of RMS, the Navy's Program Executive Officer for Littoral Combat Ships (PEO LCS) has sought the assistance of industry via the most recent Small Business Innovation Research ( SBIR ) program solicitation. A solicitation released by the Remote Minehunting System Program Office (PMS 403) entitled " Anticorrosion Solution for Remote Minehunting System (RMS) Tow Cable" seeks to correct early-lif