The General Dynamics Mission Systems team has successfully completed all stages of formal Sea Acceptance Testing (SAT) of the U.S. Navy’s Surface Mine Countermeasure (MCM) UUV system, Knifefish.

Testing, which was conducted off the coast of Boston, used Navy mine test targets, and included various undersea, MCM operational scenarios in several simulated mine fields.

With SAT now complete, the Knifefish system will begin Developmental Tests and Operational Assessment evaluations.

“The successful sea acceptance tests are the result of strong collaboration and teamwork between the General Dynamics and U.S. Navy Knifefish team,” says Carlo Zaffanella, a vice president and general manager of General Dynamics Mission Systems.

“These tests prove the Knifefish system can detect, classify and identify undersea mines in high-clutter environments.”

As part of the transition into the next stage of testing, the General Dynamics Knifefish team also successfully completed initial Navy Fleet operator training, which gave operators the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the Knifefish system, and become skilled at operating and maintaining the system during the upcoming Developmental Test and Operational Assessment.

A medium-class MCM UUV, Knifefish is designed to be deployed from the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship, as well as other Navy vessels. General Dynamics says that by operating in the minefield as an off-board sensor while the host ship stays outside the minefield boundaries, the system will ultimately reduce risk to personnel.

​Knifefish is based on the General Dynamics Bluefin Robotics Bluefin-21 deep-water AUV.