The U.S. army possesses a number of capabilities that it might wield to fight naval mine warfare within the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy views the maritime weapon as a key pillar of its army technique, based on a 2017 Workplace of Naval Intelligence report, and reportedly started laying mines within the sea passage final week.
Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth mentioned in a Pentagon briefing Friday, nonetheless, that there was “no clear proof” of mines within the strait.
Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, mentioned Monday that U.S. forces destroyed storage bunkers for naval mines throughout a U.S. strike on army targets on Iran’s oil export hub, Kharg Island, on Friday. U.S. forces additionally destroyed 16 Iranian minelayers final week, based on CENTCOM.
Iran is estimated to own roughly 6,000 mines, based on a congressional report printed Wednesday. The stockpile could embrace limpet mines, that are usually connected to a ship manually by a diver; moored mines, which float under the water’s floor and are tethered to the seabed; backside mines that relaxation on the seabed; and drifting mines, which float above the water’s floor and detonate upon contact.
Right here’s a take a look at the U.S. Navy’s arsenal of minesweepers, littoral fight ships geared up with countermine capabilities and helicopters outfitted with anti-mine know-how.
Avenger-class minesweepers
The Navy presently has 4 Avenger-class mine countermeasure ships stationed in Sasebo, Japan, that it might ahead deploy to the Center East in help of Operation Epic Fury if crucial.
The service commissioned 14 Avenger-class minesweepers starting within the Nineteen Eighties, however has since retired almost all of them.
The service had 4 deployable minesweepers stationed in Bahrain up till 2025, however they had been decommissioned and changed with littoral fight ships geared up with minesweeping and mine-hunting capabilities. Every of the minesweepers decommissioned had served for over 30 years.
These vessels, which make the most of sonar and tethered distant working automobiles to establish mines beneath the water’s floor, had been used throughout the Gulf Conflict to destroy over 1,000 mines off of Kuwait.
They sweep and destroy mines by detonating them with an acoustic machine that emits a noise meant to set off sound-sensitive mines or with an electromagnetic instrument that emits an electromagnetic discipline to trick magnetically induced mines into exploding.
In addition they drag cables and cutters behind them to intercept and sever the tethers connected to moored mines. As soon as the tether is minimize, the mine floats to the highest and is destroyed.
Minesweepers are constructed of wooden and fiberglass in an effort to produce a nonmagnetic signature and low acoustic footprint that won’t set off mines to blow up, permitting the vessels to function inside and close to a mine-threat zone.
Minesweepers additionally host two .50-caliber machine weapons and two Mk 19 grenade launchers.
Independence-class littoral fight ships
The Navy has sought to modernize its minesweeping capabilities by rotating out its getting older minesweepers in Bahrain for Independence-class littoral fight ships uniquely fitted with a mine countermeasures mission bundle.
The usCanberra was the primary LCS with the MCM bundle to reach within the Center East on Could 22, 2025. The usSanta Barbara and USS Tulsa, two different littoral fight ships with the MCM bundle, joined it shortly thereafter.
All three are homeported in Bahrain.
As of Monday, the united statesCanberra was working within the Indian Ocean, components of which fall underneath the U.S. fifth Fleet space of duty, the U.S. fifth Fleet advised Army Instances in an emailed assertion.
The usSanta Barbara and USS Tulsa had been conducting transient logistical stops in Malaysia, based on the U.S. fifth Fleet.
“U.S. forces routinely make port calls in Malaysia as a part of our operations,” the assertion learn.
The MCM bundle is used solely by Independence-class littoral fight ships.
Littoral fight ships are product of aluminum and don’t possess the identical distinctive ship structure because the nondetectable minesweepers, and consequently, they’ll solely function outdoors a mine-threat zone.
The LCS employs unmanned floor and underwater automobiles to journey into an space the place mines have been laid to find and destroy the mines.
These unmanned vessels make the most of the AN/AQS-20 mine-hunting sonar system, which is towed and makes use of sensors to pinpoint the situation of backside mines and moored mines.
There’s additionally the unmanned affect sweep system, which offers frequent unmanned floor automobiles aboard the LCS with the power to brush or detonate mines by a magnetic sweep cable that emits a magnetic discipline or a towed acoustic machine that emits sound.
The unmanned car strikes alongside a predetermined route however sends digital camera footage and radar readings again to a distant operator who can steer the car away from obstacles underwater.
The littoral fight ships with the MCM bundle have but to be deployed in fight.
The ships have a noticeably upgraded weapons bundle, in comparison with the Avenger-class mine countermeasure ships, together with a 57mm MK-110 gun system, SeaRAM self-defense system and .50-caliber machine weapons.
Helicopters
The Independence-class littoral fight ship’s MCM bundle contains the aerial capabilities of the Sikorsky MH-60S Seahawk helicopter, which might deploy from the LCS to help with mine looking and minesweeping.
These helicopters are geared up with the AN/AES-1 Airborne Laser Mine Detection System, which detects floating and near-surface moored mines, in addition to the AN/ASQ-235 Airborne Mine-Neutralization System, which sends an expendable unmanned underwater car to intercept and destroy a mine.
Previous to the MCM bundle, Sikorsky’s MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopter served because the Navy’s principal countermine plane, which was deployed throughout the Gulf Conflict to assist destroy mines and clear delivery lanes within the Persian Gulf.
The MH-53E makes use of side-scan AQS-14A mine-hunting sonar to establish mines and may tow the Mark 105 Hydrofoil Magnetic Minesweeping Sled and the Mk-103 mechanical minesweeping system to destroy mines.
The helicopter is presently out of manufacturing, with 28 plane in operation, based on the Naval Air Programs Command web site.
The Navy is within the means of “evaluating its requirement” for future airborne mine countermeasures missions after 2025, the web site states.
Riley Ceder is a reporter at Army Instances, the place he covers breaking information, legal justice, investigations, and cyber. He beforehand labored as an investigative practicum scholar at The Washington Submit, the place he contributed to the Abused by the Badge investigation.
