Glad this has turned into a good conversation about HM! A couple minor points: the Mk105 sled is the big shiny toy that folks who don’t understand AMCM usually associate with “clearing for mines”. Without speaking too deeply on the particulars, sea mines are actuated in multiple ways: some require physical contact, others sense the magnetic presence of a ship, while others listen for acoustic cues, etc. Add on top of that a ship counter feature and/ or multiple triggers necessary to activate a mine and you can imagine the ugly possibilities.. All that to say the current construct is “hunt when you can and sweep where you must”. AMCM is performed by first searching the water column with the Q24 sonar and then prosecuting individual mine threats with a system called AMNS (the Sierra has a smaller version of AMNS that is actually workable, unlike their capabilities to map out the water column). The larger issue is that the Sierra cannot tow the Q, so in effect it can kill mines but only if another aircraft finds them for it..
Unfortunately the larger issue for the AMCM community is the idea from the geniuses in Panama City to “take the man out of the minefield”. While it indeed sounds noble, they have wasted (likely) several billion dollars over two plus decades trying to field a multitude of unmanned systems to do what the 53 can do now, albeit crudely and at much expense. Also, for those who speak well of the SMCM ships there is some merit there, although our ally’s (notably the Japanese and several of the Nordic countries) lead the way in ship-based SMCM action. The Avenger class ships have been abused and ignored more than the 53..
As an HM guy, I would posit that for a rotary wing pilot HSM has the brightest future followed by HSC/ HM. The greatest difference I see between HSC and HM is that in HM we have a well-defined mission set (AMCM and VOD), which is certainly not desirable or sexy, but important at a meaningful level. The feedback I’ve gotten (from more than one HSC friend) is that HSC is a community in search of a mission..
