[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 89 (Tuesday, June 7, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S3552]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 4463. Mr. SCHUMER submitted an amendment intended to be proposed 
by him to the bill S. 2943, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2017 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military 
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, 
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of subtitle C of title I, add the following:

     SEC. 128. TESTING AND INTEGRATION OF MINEHUNTING SONARS FOR 
                   LITTORAL COMBAT SHIP MINE HUNTING CAPABILITIES.

       (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) The Department of the Navy has determined that the 
     Remote Minehunting system (RMS) has not performed 
     satisfactorily and that the program will be restructured to 
     accelerate a less capable variant on the RMS into the 
     Littoral Combat Ship.
       (2) On February 26, 2016, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus 
     stated that new testing must be done to find a permanent 
     solution to the mine countermeasures mission package and that 
     the Navy wants to ``get it out there as quickly as you can 
     and test it in a more realistic environment''.
       (3) Restructuring a program the Department of the Navy has 
     determined will be discontinued is not the best use of 
     taxpayer dollars.
       (4) There are several mature unmanned surface vehicle-towed 
     and unmanned underwater vehicle-based synthetic aperture 
     sonars sensors (SAS) in use by navies of allied nations.
       (5) SAS sensors are currently in operation and performing 
     well.
       (6) SAS sensors provide a technology that is operational 
     and ready to meet the Littoral Combat Ship minehunting area 
     clearance rate sustained requirement.
       (b) Report to Congress.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than September 30, 2018, the 
     Secretary of the Navy shall--
       (A) conduct operational at-sea testing and experimentation 
     of those currently available and deployed United States and 
     allied conventional side-scan sonar and synthetic aperture 
     sonar;
       (B) complete an assessment of all minehunting sonar 
     technologies that can meet the mine countermeasures mission 
     package (MCM MP); and
       (C) submit to the congressional defense committees a report 
     that contains the findings of the at-sea testing and 
     experimentation and market survey of all capable technologies 
     found suitable for performing the Littoral Combat Ship 
     minehunting mission.
       (2) Elements.--The market survey and assessment required 
     under paragraph (1) shall include--
       (A) specific details regarding the capabilities of current 
     minehunting sonar and in-production synthetic aperture sonar 
     sensors available for integration on the Littoral Combat 
     Ship;
       (B) an assessment of the capabilities achieved by 
     integrating synthetic aperture sonar sensors on the Littoral 
     Combat Ship; and
       (C) recommendations to enhance the minehunting capabilities 
     of the Littoral Combat Ship minehunting mission using 
     conventional sonar systems and synthetic aperture sonar 
     systems.
       (c) Assessment Required.--The Secretary of the Navy shall 
     perform at-sea testing of conventional side-scan sonar 
     systems and synthetic aperture sonar systems to determine 
     which systems can meet the requirements of the Navy 
     minehunting countermeasure mission package.
       (d) Sonar System Defined.--In this section, the term 
     ``sonar system'' includes, at a minimum, conventional side-
     scan sonar technologies and synthetic aperture sonar 
     technologies.
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