**1. Introduction**

The naval mine is one of the most cost-effective weapons in the naval arsenal and have many synergetic effects in the maritime warfare. Mines are relatively simple, cheap and can be laid from any type of sea and air platform. Combat effectiveness of naval mines covers from defending important and high-valued targets at sea, ports, and offshore structures to denying hostile forces access to the coastal zone [1]. Mines can quickly stop, or seriously impair surface, submarine forces and amphibious or seaborne attack. Their flexibility and cost-effectiveness make mines attractive to the less powerful belligerent in asymmetric warfare and maritime warfare.

Mines can be used as both offensive, defensive weapons and tools of psychological warfare in rivers, lakes and oceans. As offensive weapons, mine are placed in enemy waters and across important shipping routes to destroy or damage both civilian and military vessels [2]. Defensive minefields protect tactical areas of coast from enemy ships and submarines, or keeping them away from sensitive and high-valued targets. Threats of mines are increasing due to recent technology development, such as autonomous systems and computer systems with artificial intelligent capability. There are many solutions to solve MCM problems so far as difficulties to detect identify and classification. Unmanned systems also cleared the way to sweep and naturalize mine safely without involvement of human beings.

Mine countermeasure (MCM) is a tactical measure to clear or neutralize mine threat. Tactical MCM operations can be preceded with both passive and active operations. Passive MCM relies on minimizing the influence of the ship's physical signature such as emitted acoustic and magnetic and electric signals to be sensed by mines. Active MCM operations are minesweep‐ ing, neutralization and mine hunting, which are trying to sweep or destroy mines. Influence minesweeping uses acoustic, magnetic and pressure signals to detonate targeted mines [1]. Mechanical sweeping uses a towed minesweeping tools to cut the cables of moored mines. After mines are floated to the surface, they are detonated by shooting or explosives.

Mine hunting is getting difficulties in most parts of the littoral regions near enemy territory. Access to these tactically important areas by the sea requires minesweeping or neutralization operations. Keeping the man out of dangerous minefield requires various unmanned auton‐ omous MCM systems as a potential attractive option [3]. Many of developed high technologies that are operated in manned mine warfare operations could be transformed into an effort to develop unmanned and autonomous MCM vehicle systems.

Unmanned systems integrated with emerging technologies are the minesweepers and hunters of the future MCM operations. A focused technology effort is needed to incorporate unmanned systems into the mine countermeasure ship and other related MCM fleet forces. It is time to press ahead with establishing fleet requirements for unmanned MCM systems that lead to programming decisions allowing mine hunting and minesweeping missions to be performed without a man onboard, eliminating the risk to personnel.

The physical and operational capacity of small displacement UUVs will greatly limit what UUVs can provide as multimission assets and effective autonomy at a real combat situation. New platform designs that are true viable organized intelligent assets should be incorporated with large diameter UUVs [4]. Realization of the full potential of UUV system as a truly autonomous undersea vehicle (AUV) in MCM warfare will have sufficient energy system for super long combat endurance and intelligent mission management capability and mine disposal weapons.

**1. Introduction**

128 Autonomous Vehicle

warfare.

The naval mine is one of the most cost-effective weapons in the naval arsenal and have many synergetic effects in the maritime warfare. Mines are relatively simple, cheap and can be laid from any type of sea and air platform. Combat effectiveness of naval mines covers from defending important and high-valued targets at sea, ports, and offshore structures to denying hostile forces access to the coastal zone [1]. Mines can quickly stop, or seriously impair surface, submarine forces and amphibious or seaborne attack. Their flexibility and cost-effectiveness make mines attractive to the less powerful belligerent in asymmetric warfare and maritime

Mines can be used as both offensive, defensive weapons and tools of psychological warfare in rivers, lakes and oceans. As offensive weapons, mine are placed in enemy waters and across important shipping routes to destroy or damage both civilian and military vessels [2]. Defensive minefields protect tactical areas of coast from enemy ships and submarines, or keeping them away from sensitive and high-valued targets. Threats of mines are increasing due to recent technology development, such as autonomous systems and computer systems with artificial intelligent capability. There are many solutions to solve MCM problems so far as difficulties to detect identify and classification. Unmanned systems also cleared the way to

Mine countermeasure (MCM) is a tactical measure to clear or neutralize mine threat. Tactical MCM operations can be preceded with both passive and active operations. Passive MCM relies on minimizing the influence of the ship's physical signature such as emitted acoustic and magnetic and electric signals to be sensed by mines. Active MCM operations are minesweep‐ ing, neutralization and mine hunting, which are trying to sweep or destroy mines. Influence minesweeping uses acoustic, magnetic and pressure signals to detonate targeted mines [1]. Mechanical sweeping uses a towed minesweeping tools to cut the cables of moored mines.

Mine hunting is getting difficulties in most parts of the littoral regions near enemy territory. Access to these tactically important areas by the sea requires minesweeping or neutralization operations. Keeping the man out of dangerous minefield requires various unmanned auton‐ omous MCM systems as a potential attractive option [3]. Many of developed high technologies that are operated in manned mine warfare operations could be transformed into an effort to

Unmanned systems integrated with emerging technologies are the minesweepers and hunters of the future MCM operations. A focused technology effort is needed to incorporate unmanned systems into the mine countermeasure ship and other related MCM fleet forces. It is time to press ahead with establishing fleet requirements for unmanned MCM systems that lead to programming decisions allowing mine hunting and minesweeping missions to be performed

The physical and operational capacity of small displacement UUVs will greatly limit what UUVs can provide as multimission assets and effective autonomy at a real combat situation.

After mines are floated to the surface, they are detonated by shooting or explosives.

develop unmanned and autonomous MCM vehicle systems.

without a man onboard, eliminating the risk to personnel.

sweep and naturalize mine safely without involvement of human beings.

Since current technology is available to deactivate or eliminate mines, an effort to make a larger and heavier UUV system should be discussed, in order to produce an unmanned system to integrate complete MCM UUV systems. With a larger diameter UUV system, however, there are still problems with vehicle's operation time and speed at sea, vehicle and mission man‐ agement systems with appropriate hardware configurations. Larger displacement UUVs must be integrated into a new platform design so that they can be a viable organic asset. Realization of the full potential of the UUV as a truly autonomous undersea vehicle (AUV) in warfare will begin with a transition to a large displacement vehicle.

We investigate strategy and threat of mine warfare and recommend optimal concepts of operation of their mine countermeasure operation of future maritime warfare. In this chapter, we provide CONOPs developments of future large diameter MCM UUV in Section 2, speci‐ fications of the MCM UUV system configurations in Section 3, system effectiveness discussions in Section 4, and the conclusion in Section 5.
