The Crazy Mine-Clearing Weapon on US Helicopters You Never Knew — CH-53 Seahawk Secret Weapon

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]The US Navy operates some of the most capable mine countermeasures assets in the world. New technology and classified development programs make it possible to destroy mines modernized over decades and nearly invisible to ordinary ships without risking either equipment or human lives. American forces are clearing the straight of Hormuz under combat conditions. Mine warfare has been the central threat to Allied shipping since the opening days of the campaign.

[00:00:29]Iran's stockpile is estimated at 3 to 6,000 sea mines, mored contact, bottom influence, and a limited number of Russian-made rocket propelled rising mines. Some were laid by Iranian fastboats in the first 72 hours of hostilities. Others were dropped from civilian dows operating along the Iranian coast. Clearing them is the precondition for tanker traffic to resume and for fifth fleet warships to operate freely east of the Hormuz choke point. Mine clearance in 2026 is not a single platform's job. It is a layered effort built around four assets. Avenger class mine sweepers, Independence class literal combat ships, MH53E seadragon helicopters, and unmanned underwater vehicles. Each handles a different category of threat. Each depends on the others. Avenger class mine countermeasure ships. The fifth fleet's mine warfare backbone consists of four Avenger class ships forward deployed to naval support activity Bahrain. USS Gladiator, USS Devastator, USS Century, and USS Dextrous. Each is 224 ft long and displaces roughly 1,300 tons. Their hulls are wooden frames sheathed in fiberglass, non-magnetic by design to avoid triggering magnetic influence mines beneath [music] the keel. Each Avenger carries an ANSQ32 variable depth mine hunting sonar. The sonar body is lowered into the water on a cable, allowing operators to scan below thermoclines that would block a whole mounted system. Once a mine-like contact is detected, the ship deploys an SLQ48 mine neutralization vehicle, a tethered remotely operated vehicle that approaches the mine, identifies it via lowlight camera, and places a small explosive charge to destroy it. These ships are slow, narrow, and unarmored.

[00:02:30]They depend on standoff weapons and escort vessels for protection. Their value is precision. They can clear a lane to within meters. Independence class LCS with the MCM mission package.

[00:02:43]The Avengers are aging. The Navy has begun rotating Independence class literal combat ships fitted with the mine countermeasures mission package into fifth fleet operations. USS Tulsa and USS Charleston have both deployed to Bahrain in 2026.

[00:03:00]The MCM package is modular. It includes the ANA QS20C toad sonar, ANAES1 airborne laser mine detection pods, the Knifeish unmanned underwater vehicle, the AMNS airborne mine neutralization system, and an MH60S Seahawk to operate the airborne components. The LCS hull is aluminum and steel [music] magnetic, so the ship itself does not enter the minefield. It functions as a mother ship. Sensors and aectors go forward.

[00:03:33]The ship stays back. MH53E Sea Dragon helicopter. The Seadragon is the largest helicopter in US military service. Its maximum takeoff weight is 73,500 lb. It is powered by three General Electric T64 turbo shaft engines producing 4,750 shaft horsepower each. The airframe was built around a single requirement, the ability to tow heavy mine clearance equipment for hours over open water. The Sea Dragons working over Hormuz operate from Bahrain. They tow three different systems behind them, each addressing a different mine category. MK 105 magnetic mine sweeping sled. This is the critical system against bottomlaid magnetic mines, which make up the largest share of Iran's modern inventory. The MK 105 is a hydrooil sled roughly 22 feet long with foils that lift the body partially out of the water at towing speed to reduce drag. It is connected to the Sea Dragon by a tow cable several hundred feet long. The helicopter flies above and ahead of the sled. Inside the sled is a gas turbine engine, a Rolls-Royce 250 derivative driving a generator. The generator feeds high current into a pair of buoyant electrode arrays that trail behind the sled in the water. The electrodes complete an electrical circuit through the seawater itself.

[00:04:59]That current produces a powerful magnetic field underneath and around the sled. The field is calibrated to mimic the magnetic signature of a steelhauled warship or merchant tanker. A bottom magnetic mine sitting on the seafloor reads the passing field, classifies it as a valid target, and detonates. The explosion happens hundreds of feet behind the sled and far below the helicopter. The air crew never enters the kill zone of the mine. The MK 105 sweeps at 25 knots and clears a path roughly 600 ft wide on each pass. A single Sea Dragon can cover over 100 square miles of water in a continuous mission. Multiple sleds operating in parallel formations widen the cleared lane faster. The A's AQS24 is a towed sonar with highresolution side scan capability. It does not destroy mines, it maps them. The Seagra flies survey patterns over a designated lane while the AQS24 trails behind. The data is up linked to the LCS or the Avenger handling the operation. Crews then dispatch neutralization assets to the recorded coordinates.

[00:06:10]Unmanned underwater vehicles do the work that is too dangerous for ships and too detailed for helicopters.

[00:06:16]Three platforms are operating in Hormuz in 2026. The Knife Fish is a 5.8 m UV launched from the LCS. It runs autonomously on a pre-programmed search pattern using inertial navigation and acoustic positioning. Its primary sensor is a low frequency broadband synthetic aperture sonar. [music] Synthetic aperture means the sonar effectively builds a highresolution image by combining returns gathered along the vehicle's entire track rather than from a single ping. Knife fish can detect mines buried in seafloor sediment, a category that conventional side scan sonars routinely miss. Mission endurance is 16 hours. After completion, the vehicle returns to a launch point and is recovered. The Mark1 18 Mod 1 Swordfish is a smaller UUV based on the Remis 100 platform 1.6 m long designed for shallow water search. It carries side scan sonar and operates in pairs. Each unit runs 8-hour missions and is recovered by small boat. The Mark1 18 Mod 2 Kingfish is based on the Remis 600 3.25 m deeper water capable longer endurance. Both mod 1 and mod 2 operate from forward bases in Bahrain and from LCS hangers. UUVs do not destroy mines. They locate and classify them. Once a contact [music] is confirmed, a manned platform Avenger MNV, MH60s with AMNS or EOD divers handles the kill. The operation mine clearance in Hormuz proceeds in phases.

[00:07:55]UUVs survey first, mapping minefields without exposing manned assets to [music] risk. Helicopters then sweep magnetic and contact mines along surveyed lanes. Avengers and LCS conduct detailed neutralization of remaining contacts. Escort destroyers screen the entire force against Iranian fastboats and shore-based anti-hship missiles. The pace is measured in days per miles, not hours. The straight remains contested.