nearshore operational areas clandestinely and, if necessary, neutralize emplaced mines. This advance will remove personnel from the dangerous job of minehunting and destruction. However, to increase the effectiveness of UUVs, greater speed and range and deeper diving capability is needed (Morison, 1995). In water depths greater than 10 ft., the diesel-powered RMS discussed previously will eventually provide the dual capacity to locate and neutralize mines. The next RMS prototype will have an over-the-horizon communications link that will give operational commanders the ability to remotely control the RMS at a range of up to 100 miles. Systems to be used with the multipurpose H-60 helicopters are also under development. These advances in minehunting and sweeping capabilities will greatly reduce the time needed to classify and neutralize mines in the coastal zone.

New systems are also being developed for use in the surf zone. The Shallow Water Assault Breaching System (SWABS) and Distributed Explosive Technology (DET) can deliver an array of explosives to remove mines and obstacles ahead of a landing force. These systems have the advantage of an increased standoff distance, reducing the danger to platforms and personnel.

Advances are also being made in the area of sensor development. For example, the Tactical Acoustics Measurement and Decision Aid (TAMDA) will not only give temperature and depth measurements, as with conventional XBTs, but will also collect salinity and ambient noise data for use in acoustic sensor calibration. TAMDA will also incorporate a broadband probe pulse to determine reverberation and bottom composition, will have a global positioning system (GPS), and will have a longer operational life to provide extended data collection capabilities.

In addition to hardware improvements, improvements to support systems for the MIW community are also planned. Many of these systems will increasingly rely on computer models and advanced oceanographic databases to store MCM-specific types of digital information. An important development will be a shared database containing oceanographic data from all available sources. These data will be used to update and refine environmental assessments and will be the basis of a distributed database digitally available to the end user. Furthermore, recent developments in advanced visualization hardware and software systems will enable the mine warfighter to interact, in real time, with 3D graphical representations of oceanographic data. This capability will enhance the warfighter's ability to understand local environmental variability and thus will greatly benefit mine warfare operations.

The MIW community will also benefit from advances in data processing algorithms. For example, continued development of mathematical inversion techniques for use on sonic datasets will provide qualitative estimates of bottom type and composition from sonar data. In addition, advances in data processing from sensors, such as LIDAR, will provide high-resolution seafloor bathymetry data and enhance the ability to identify mine-like features in seafloor images.