An ideal minefield

An ideal minefield is just one component in a balanced overall defence system, and it should be one sown with mines which:-

Can be laid well in advance of hostilities.

Can distinguish between friendly and enemy shipping.

Are intelligent, and capable of being interrogated or instructed.

Selects and hunts its programmed target from any depth.

Will maintain station for years.

Are virtually undetectable.

Are safe until armed on command.

Are cost effective to manufacture and offer Logistic Advantages and Economies of scale.

Finally and perhaps most importantly, do not represent a hazard when hostilities end.

CHECKMATE possesses all the characteristics required for the ideal minefield.

When CHECKMATE is sown in amongst conventional mines, an impenetrable barrier is created. This because when entering such a mixed mined area, or even a suspected mined area, the mine hunter commander must use sonar in order to detect and avoid conventional mines. As soon as he does so he is detected by CHECKMATE and provides a perfect target for a sonar-riding torpedo.

A few CHECKMATE canisters carrying hunter weapons, such as a torpedo, will create a force multiplier out of all proportion to their cost and to which currently there is no answer. Mine hunting is difficult enough now, add CHECKMATE and it becomes impossible.

The Volume of Influence (VOI) of one hunter weapon contained within a CHECKMATE canister depends on which ever is the lesser - the range at which its sensors detect targets, or the range of the weapon itself. As an illustration, a magnetic 500kg mine has an effective damage radius of 50 meters, whereas one CHECKMATE equipped with a torpedo carrying say a 200-kg Warhead and with a slant range of 1,000 meters equates to the same area as 500 magnetic mines, and has a VOI which is cylindrical from the seabed to the surface.

Whilst it is not intended to suggest that a simple arithmetical comparison will produce a ‘Straight Line Answer’, it does show that CHECKMATE offers significant economies of scale. Particularly in the area of logistics and it is self-evident that the greater the range of the sensors/weapon encapsulated, the greater the VOI and economy which will result.

When CHECKMATE is sown in amongst conventional mines, an impenetrable barrier is created. This because when entering such a mixed mined area, or even a suspected mined area, the mine hunter commander must use sonar in order to detect and avoid conventional mines. As soon as he does so he is detected by CHECKMATE and provides a perfect target for a sonar-riding torpedo.

A few CHECKMATE canisters carrying hunter weapons, such as a torpedo, will create a force multiplier out of all proportion to their cost and to which currently there is no answer. Mine hunting is difficult enough now, add CHECKMATE and it becomes impossible.

The Volume of Influence (VOI) of one hunter weapon contained within a CHECKMATE canister depends on which ever is the lesser - the range at which its sensors detect targets, or the range of the weapon itself. As an illustration, a magnetic 500kg mine has an effective damage radius of 50 meters, whereas one CHECKMATE equipped with a torpedo carrying say a 200-kg Warhead and with a slant range of 1,000 meters equates to the same area as 500 magnetic mines, and has a VOI which is cylindrical from the seabed to the surface.

One CHECKMATE with a range of 1,000 meters and carrying a 200-kg warhead can protect the same size area as some 500 proximity weapons each carrying a 500 kg charge.

Minefields may be laid well before the outbreak of hostilities. Minefields can become o perational within minutes, thus creating ‘Instant Defence’ on demand. Far less ships, aircraft, men and resources are required to mount the same effort.

History will probably acknowledge that it was the advent of the ‘Star Wars Concept’ which caused the USSR to finally bow to the inevitable and accept that they were unable to match the technology of the West. Subsequent events in the Gulf undoubtedly proved to them that this was the correct view to have taken and illustrated vividly what high technology can achieve when put to the test.